Study Techniques and Cognitive Style: Their Effect on Recall and Recognition

Field-independent and field-dependent college students studied a 1525-word article under a preferred or non preferred study condition (read only, underline, or note taking). Half of the subjects reviewed the material prior to an examination and half did not. Results indicated that both field-independent and field-dependent subjects generally produced the best recognition scores when they used a non preferred study technique and reviewed. Both note takers and underliners produced significantly better recall scores than readers only. Implications for further research are discussed.