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Mental-attentional capacity: does cognitive style make a difference?

R Baillargeon1, J Pascual-Leone, C Roncadin

  • 1Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. baillar@ere.umontreal.ca

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|September 22, 1998
PubMed
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Field-dependent children perform better on cognitive tasks when demands exceed their mental capacity, but worse when demands are lower. This suggests cognitive style impacts performance measurement.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Educational Psychology

Background:

  • The distinction between field-dependent and field-independent cognitive styles is debated regarding its impact on cognitive abilities.
  • Existing research lacks consensus on whether performance differences stem from processing strategies, inherent ability variations, or a combination.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the interplay between cognitive style (field dependence/independence) and mental-attentional capacity in school-age children.
  • To differentiate the contributions of cognitive style versus ability to performance on a cognitive task.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the Children's Embedded Figures Test to assess field dependence/independence in 239 school-age children.
  • Employed the Figural Intersection Task to measure mental-attentional capacity.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Applied multigroup scaling models to disentangle style and ability effects.

    • Main Results:

    • Field-dependent children showed higher success rates on the Figural Intersection Task when its demand exceeded their assessed mental-attentional capacity.
    • Conversely, field-independent children performed better when task demand was at or below their mental-attentional capacity.
    • Overall, field-dependent children yielded lower estimates of mental-attentional capacity compared to field-independent children.

    Conclusions:

    • Cognitive style significantly moderates performance on tasks measuring mental-attentional capacity, particularly under high cognitive load.
    • Findings challenge the direct interpretation of mental-attentional capacity estimates without considering individual cognitive styles.
    • Re-evaluation of cognitive style conceptualization and measurement is warranted in light of these findings.