Ehri, L. C., Deffner, N. D. et al. (1984). Pictorial mnemonics for phonics. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(5), 880-893.

Two experiments evaluated whether picture mnemonics help prereaders learn letter-sound associations. Pictures integrating the associations were compared with disassociated pictures and with a no-picture control condition. Children in the integrated-picture group learned five letter-sound assocations (e.g., f, /f/), each represented by a picture whose shape included the letter (e.g., letter f drawn as the stem of a flower) and whose name (flower) began with the letter's sound. Children in the disassociated-picture group learned letter-sound associations with pictures having the same names as the integrated pictures, but drawn differently - without letter shapes. Children in the control group learned associations with picture names but no pictures. Prior to letter-sound training, all groups were taught how to segment the initial sound of the picture names. Results revealed that children taught with integrated mnemonics learned more letter-sound associations and also more letter-picture associations than did the other two groups, which did not differ. Integrated pictures were effective because they linked two otherwise unconnected items in memory. The shapes of letters included in pictures reminded learners of previously seen pictures with those shapes whose names began with the relevant letter sounds.