Relationships between Cognitive and Learning Styles of Premedical Students.

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between cognitive and learning style by comparing the Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) with the Index of Learning Styles (ILS). We assessed whether cognitive styles correlated with learning styles with regard to their corresponding dimensions. One hundred two second-year premedical students participated, and data from ninety-four students were analyzed. One student's data file was lost during data collection, and six students were excluded because their correct response rates on the CSA were lower than 50%. Both scales were presented on a computer item by item, and the assessment was conducted in the computer lab as a group. For analysis, responses and reaction times were recorded. Distributions of the styles were generated. We correlated the verbal-imagery dimension of the CSA with the visual-verbal dimension of the ILS and found no correlation. There was no correlation between the wholist-analytic dimension of the CSA with the sequential-global dimension of the ILS. Excluding intermediate students in the verbal-imagery dimension of the CSA, however, there appeared to be a marginally significant correlation between the verbal-imagery dimension of the CSA and the visual-verbal dimension of the ILS. In the visual (imagery)-verbal dimension, there was some correlation between cognitive and learning styles.