A study examined whether pictures presented in advance of reading a text (advance organizers) as compared to pictures presented after reading a text (postorganizers) would significantly enhance the reader's retention of the text's content. Sixty college students rated their familiarity with six topics, then read materials presented on the three topics with which they were least familiar. The presentation was in one of the following conditions: pictures before text (DT), pictures after text (TD), pictures simultaneously with text (ST), the same picture twice (DD), and the same text twice (TT). Free recall and short answer criterion measures were used to assess comprehension. Contrary to hypotheses, the only factor to affect the number of correct responses significantly and positively was the material presented second. In particular, when text followed an earlier presentation of diagram or text (DT or TT), scores on the free recall and short answer tests were significantly higher than when a diagram followed an earlier presentation of diagram or text. The order of experimental conditions, from most to fewest correct responses, was TT, ST, DT, TD, and DD. There was also greater recall/comprehension for the first story that was read in the sequence of three and for the story ranked most familiar of the three stories read. (RL)