Measuring learning modalities with neuropsychological memory measures in a college population

Eve Stoddard

doi:10.17918/etd-1797

Within the educational literature, researchers assert that individuals have learning modality strengths (LMS, i.e., visual or verbal proficiencies; e.g. Dunn et al., 1995). Self-report measures (e.g. LASSI, LSI) are frequently used to assess learning modality preferences, but they typically have poor validity and reliability; consequently the proportion of students that have LMS remains unknown. I gave a neuropsychological memory battery, with instruments of known validity and reliability, to assess for differential verbal or visual memory in a population of 71 college students. There were 11 students with self-reported LD or ADHD that were excluded from the study. In total 56 college students were included in analyses. If students had a greater than 1 standard deviation difference between their verbal and visual memory scores, I operationally defined that as a verbal or visual LMS. The battery consisted of the Wechsler Memory Scale - III (WMS-III - Logical Memory, Word Lists, Digit Span, Spatial Span, and Faces), and the Brief Visual Memory Test - Revised (BVMT-R). Norms from the WMSIII manual show that approximately one third of the normative sample have a one standard deviation difference between their Auditory and Visual Memory Indices. My first hypothesis was that a significantly larger proportion of individuals would show differential verbal and visual memory performance, because the chosen battery should be more sensitive than the WMS-III core subtests. My results did not support this hypothesis. Approximately one third of participants showed the 1 standard deviation differential, with most of these differences accounted for by verbal memory subtest superiority. My second hypothesis addressed the construct validity of the Learning Efficiency Test - II (LET-II), a measure used for assessing LMS in individuals. In my study, data supported the construct validity for the LET-II auditory subtest, but not the visual subtest. Thus, my study supports the observation that approximately one third of individuals have differential verbal and visual memory abilities. This is a relatively large proportion of the population and has possible implications for teaching students in accordance with their respective memory abilities. Limitations of this study include a narrow sample (i.e., college students), inter-rater inconsistency, and small sample size.

Measuring learning modalities with neuropsychological memory measures in a college population

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Measuring learning modalities with neuropsychological memory measures in a college population

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