Newspaper people have known this instinctively since they learned how to use printing plates to put pictures in the paper. The premise is that a decorative photo accompanying a statement made people more likely to think it's true. From a ScienceDaily.com release:
In a series of four experiments in both New Zealand and Canada, Newman and colleagues showed people a series of claims such as, "The liquid metal inside a thermometer is magnesium" and asked them to agree or disagree that each claim was true. In some cases, the claim appeared with a decorative photograph that didn't reveal if the claim was actually true -- such as a thermometer. Other claims appeared alone. When a decorative photograph appeared with the claim, people were more likely to agree that the claim was true, regardless of whether it was actually true.
(Cat photo added for credibility.)
Via.
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