Impulsive cognitive style: Three modification techniques

Fifty-five boys aged 8-11, categorized as impulsives by means of the Matching Familiar Figures test, participated in a study comparing the effects of three different techniques, designed to change an impulsive cognitive style on response accuracy and response latency. One group of impulsives was trained to increase response latency by means of modeling and instructions. A second group was trained to increase response accuracy by a strategy of visual detailing. The third group was trained to increase response accuracy by a strategy of visual discrimination. The two groups trained to increase response accuracy showed a significant decrease in errors, as well as an increase in response latency. The “visual discrimination” group had a significantly shorter response latency than the “visual detailing” group. Subjects trained only to increase response latency did show a significant increase in latency; however, there was no decrease in errors.