Every picture tells a story.

The seminal 1971 album from Rod Stewart was all about painting pictures with music but it was much earlier we worked out pictures have the ability to convey abundantly more than what can be written on a page. The feelings a picture can convey is limitless and the phrase, "a picture is worth a thousand words", was given first accord to newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane when presenting to the Syracuse Advertising Men's Club in 1911. The saying was a mash up of many quotations attributed to advertising men, Confucius, Russian literature and old proverbs about ,"one timely deed is worth ten thousand words", "the drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book" and "that tear, good girl, is worth, ten thousand words".

Today research tells us a picture has the ability to position truth and trust when used with text, even when that is not the case. The theory behind this thinking has our brains more fully engaged and processing content more deeply because we connect the pictures to the words adding memorable learning and adding a layer of credibility. The theory behind the picture, is a complex idea can be conveyed with a single still image making it possible to absorb large amounts of data quickly. This sets up what the researchers call a "truth bias" in our brain, giving more credence to the text regardless of its content. University researchers have shown statements about celebrities being dead were considered more accurate when a picture of the celebrity was included, regardless of the accuracy of content. Samuel L Jackson can attest to this theory as he is often cited as being dead or dying, creating a Facebook out pouring of grief, as long as the story has his picture attached. Researchers pushed the "truth bias" beyond Hollywood when they stated "turtles are deaf" and found this was judged to be true as long as the text was accompanied by a picture of a turtle.

The influence of pictures on text cannot be denied and even neuroscientists have been tricked when a specialised case study given to the scientists was shown to be more credible with images of brain scan photos, even though those scans were not related to the conclusions. Words are commanding and the "pen is mightier than the sword" when it comes to literature but add an image and communication and messaging can be manipulated. So the take away from a neuro-marketing aspect, is all about adding credibility to your statements with images, especially if that imagery supports your claims and unfortunately, sometimes even when it doesn't.

So the next time you are in the supermarket or browsing a magazine, consider the text and images and judge if they really are aligned in message. Anti wrinkle cream with beautiful faces, unlimited Internet or phone access showing happy people chatting, hamburgers so big you need two hands to eat them, you can't trust them just because the "picture is worth a thousand words".