Studies have indicated that pictures in test items can impact item-solving performance, information processing (e.g., time on task) and metacognition as well as test-taking affect and motivation. The present review aims to better organize the existing and somewhat scattered research on multimedia effects in testing and problem solving while considering several potential moderators. We conducted a systematic literature search with liberal study inclusion criteria to cover the still young research field as broadly as possible. Due to the complexity and heterogeneity of the relevant studies, we present empirical findings in a narrative review style. Included studies were classified by four categories, coding the moderating function of the pictures investigated. The evaluation of 62 studies allowed for some tentative main conclusions: Decorative pictures did not appear to have a meaningful effect on test-taker performance, time on task, test-taking affect, and metacognition. Both representational and organizational pictures tended to increase performance. Representational pictures further seem to enhance test-taker enjoyment and response certainty. Regarding the contradictory effects of informational pictures on performance and time on task that we found across studies, more differentiated research is needed. Conclusions on other potential moderators at the item-level and test-taker level were often not possible due to the sparse data available. Future research should therefore increasingly incorporate potential moderators into experimental designs. Finally, we propose a simplification and extension of the functional picture taxonomy in multimedia testing, resulting in a simple hierarchical approach that incorporates several additional aspects for picture classification beyond its function.

研究表明，测试项目中的图片可以影响项目解决表现、信息处理（例如，完成任务的时间）和元认知以及考试情感和动机。本综述旨在更好地组织现有的、有些分散的多媒体效果测试和问题解决研究，同时考虑几个潜在的调节者。我们根据自由研究纳入标准进行了系统的文献检索，以尽可能广泛地覆盖仍然年轻的研究领域。由于相关研究的复杂性和异质性，我们以叙述性评论的方式呈现实证研究结果。纳入的研究分为四类，对所调查图片的调节功能进行编码。对 62 项研究的评估得出了一些初步的主要结论：装饰图片似乎对考生的表现、完成任务的时间、考试情绪和元认知没有产生有意义的影响。代表性和组织形象都倾向于提高绩效。代表性图片似乎进一步增强了考生的乐趣和反应的确定性。关于我们在研究中发现的信息图片对绩效和任务时间的矛盾影响，需要进行更多差异化的研究。由于可用数据稀疏，通常不可能在项目级别和考生级别上得出其他潜在调节者的结论。因此，未来的研究应该越来越多地将潜在的调节因素纳入实验设计中。最后，我们提出了多媒体测试中功能图片分类的简化和扩展，从而产生了一种简单的分层方法，该方法在其功能之外纳入了图片分类的几个附加方面。