Recall and Recall-Organization Behaviors of Field-Dependent and Field-Independent Children

Abstract

In a sort-recall task 20 field-independent children at two age levels (Grades 1 and 4) recalled a greater number of items and achieved greater degrees of organization in their recall output when compared with 20 field-dependent children. However, in a standard viewing-recall task, where taxonomic exemplars were presented in a randomly arranged array and where subjects were not encouraged to initiate active study behavior, field-dependent and field-independent children did not differ in their amount of recall or organization. There is a need for added clarification of the relationship between cognitive style and cognitive restructuring skills in children.