Young adults are more likely to respond to the dangers of smoking when the warnings are presented as images as well as text on the packages, according to a recent study by a Washington State Vancouver psychologist.

In the study, smoking and nonsmoking adults between the ages of 18 and 25 were presented with images along text depicting people dying in hospital beds, diseased body parts and other negative effects of smoking. The participants were then asked what they learned from the images.

“We asked them what they felt about from the message, what they learned from message and how discouraging the message was from smoking,” Renee Magnan said, an assistant professor of psychology and primary author of the research. Magnan said the images used for the research were pulled from the World Health Organization.

Magnan said she wanted to see what individuals had learned from these images, as there has not been much research done on the topic before. According to the original article that was published, the respondents to the online survey represented 48 out of the 50 states.

Magnan said the results of the survey from both groups were very similar. “People found them to be more understandable when presented with images along with text,” she said.