COGNITIVE STYLE PERFORMANCE AND FORM DISCRIMINATION

Abstract

Forty-two male and 42 female college students were subdivided into field independent, medium, and field dependent identity groups and matched for sex. Each subject was given 24 active and 24 passive touch form discrimination trials. The results showed that active touch form discrimination yielded fewer errors than passive touch and that females were better form discriminators than males. The interaction between field dependence, form discrimination and sex showed that in contrast to field independent subjects, field dependent males made more form discrimination errors while females improved. This interaction is discussed in relation to the field dependence literature.