Advocates of modality preference posit that individuals have a dominant sense and that when new material is presented in this preferred modality, learning is enhanced. Despite the widespread belief in this position, there is little supporting evidence. In the present study, the authors implemented a Morse code-like recall task to examine whether…

Background: The ComFor study has indicated that individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show enhanced visual local processing compared with individuals with ID only. Items of the ComFor with meaningless materials provided the best discrimination between the two samples. These results can be explained by the…

Nine studies showed a bidirectional link (a) between a global processing style and generation of similarities and (b) between a local processing style and generation of dissimilarities. In Experiments 1-4, participants were primed with global versus local perception styles and then asked to work on an allegedly unrelated generation task. Across…

Preference for field dependence independence and verbal imagery was assessed in 96 14-year-olds. Their map reading performance was measured in terms of map-aerial photograph correlation, symbol translation, and view identification. The results suggest that map reading performance depends on the learning style, sex of the pupil, and the type of…

Thirty middle-class preschoolers (ages three to five) were tested with the Acuff and Sieber-Suppes Manual for coding children's responses to paintings and two forms of the Embedded Figures Test. At age 5, significant positive correlations were found between cognitive style and total cue attendance and two attributes, sensory and organizational.…

Eight men and eight women responded "same" or "different" to pairs of geometric figures. Male subjects showed a left visual-field advantage regardless of the level of processing, whereas female subjects did not show a clear-cut hemispheric asymmetry. Results are discussed in terms of sex differences in processing strategies. (Author/SJL)

Examined the conditions under which infants employ (1) spatial codes respondent to objects central to their visual field and (2) spatial codes respondent to objects peripheral to their visual field. (DB)

This study investigated the relation between field independence/field dependence (FI/FD) and reading success. One hundred kindergarten children from a predominantly white, middle-class community were administered a Portable Rod and Frame Test as a measure of cognitive style. The upper and lower 27% were identified and designated Field Dependent…

Examined the relationship between cognitive style and reading readiness in 104 kindergarteners before and after a visual discrimination treatment designed to modify conceptual impulsivity. Correlations were also obtained between errors and latencies on the Matching Familiar Figures Test and performance on the Metropolitan Readiness Test. No…

Investigated ability of young children to interpret aerial photographs and maps, sought age and/or cognitive development differences, and probed whether or not some environmental features were more consistently recognized than others. (Author/DB)

Two tests of field dependence-independence (the Embedded Figures Test and Inverted Tracing Test) are examined as potential predictors of student clinical performance. Results suggest that field-independent students may have an advantage in the clinical dental curriculum. (Author/MSE)

Argues that reading instruction should be understood as an integrated instructional program simultaneously juxtaposing learning styles, modality dependencies, and visual literacies. Argues, too, that teaching the "basics" of reading includes mastery of the fundamentals, involvement leading to verbal interaction, critical reading, and synthesis…

Preschool children were asked to choose the figure most resembling a real man from three figures drawn according to formulas used by children to depict humans. Results suggest development of drawing systems influences children's conceptions about objects or events. (Author/DB)

Investigates the differential effect of modeling procedures on slow and fast responders' performance on a haptic-visual matching test. Also studies the differential effect of modeling of impulsive v reflective modes of responding, and of model success v model failure. (Author/SS)

Field independence, visual analysis, and spatial visualization were investigated and social communication skills were assessed in two groups of 25 first graders (chosen for either high or low verbal ability). (Author/PHR)