%0 Journal Article
%T An Empirical Investigation of the Relationships Among Cognitive Abilities, Cognitive Style, and Learning Preferences in Students Enrolled in Specialized Degree Courses at a Canadian College
%A Jean Choi
%A Shaila Sardar
%J Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
%D 2011
%I Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
%X Although specific cognitive abilities, cognitive style, and learning preferences are assumed to be inter-related, the empirical evidence supporting this assumption is mixed. Cognitive style refers to how individuals represent information, and learning preference refers to how individuals prefer the presentation of information (Mayer & Massa, 2003). Both cognitive style and learning preferences have been linked to specific cognitive abilities, such as verbal abilities, visual imagery and spatial abilities, though the nature of the inter-relationships remains tenuous in the literature. The present study addressed the roles of specific cognitive abilities in the relationship between learning preferences and the visualizer-verbalizer dimension of cognitive style, using a unique sample of students enrolled in specialized post-secondary programs. A battery of cognitive tests and questionnaires was administered. It was found that spatial abilities predicted visual cognitive style, which in turn, predicted visual learning preferences. Vocabulary knowledge predicted verbal cognitive style, but not verbal learning preferences. These results suggest that specific cognitive abilities predict visual-verbal cognitive styles, though the distinction between visual-verbal cognitive styles does not have clear associations with learning preferences.Bien que l¡¯on suppose que les habilet¨¦s cognitives, le style cognitif et les pr¨¦f¨¦rences en mati¨¨re d¡¯apprentissage soient interreli¨¦s, les preuves empiriques ¨¦tayant cette supposition sont partag¨¦es. Le style cognitif renvoie ¨¤ la fa on dont les individus per oivent l¡¯information et les pr¨¦f¨¦rences en mati¨¨re d¡¯apprentissage concernent la pr¨¦sentation de l¡¯information (Mayer & Massa, 2003). Les chercheurs ont ¨¦tabli un lien entre, d¡¯une part, le style cognitif et les pr¨¦f¨¦rences d¡¯apprentissage et, d¡¯autre part, des capacit¨¦s cognitives sp¨¦cifiques comme les habilet¨¦s verbales, l¡¯imagination visuelle et les capacit¨¦s spatiales; quoique la nature des interrelations reste fragile dans les ¨¦crits. La pr¨¦sente ¨¦tude a consid¨¦r¨¦ le r le des habilet¨¦s cognitives sp¨¦cifiques dans la relation entre les pr¨¦f¨¦rences d¡¯apprentissage et la dimension visualisation-verbalisation des styles cognitifs ¨¤ partir d¡¯un ¨¦chantillon d¡¯¨¦tudiants inscrits ¨¤ des programmes postsecondaires sp¨¦cialis¨¦s. Les chercheurs ont administr¨¦ une batterie de tests cognitifs et de questionnaires. Ils ont d¨¦couvert que les habilet¨¦s spatiales permettaient de pr¨¦dire le style cognitif, qui ¨¤ son tour, permettait de pr¨¦dire les pr¨¦f¨¦rences d¡¯apprentissage visuel. La
%K verbalizer-visualizer
%K cognitive abilities
%K cognitive style
%K learning preferences
%U http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cjsotl_rcacea/vol2/iss1/5