<p>In response to a related question about learning styles, I provided <a href="https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/a/962/52">this answer</a>.</p>

<p>In that answer, I quote Pashler et al (2009) which is generally critical of the learning styles literature.
I quote Pashler et al where they state:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Our review of the literature disclosed ample evidence that children
  and <strong>adults will, if asked, express preferences about how they prefer
  information to be presented to them</strong>. There is also plentiful evidence
  arguing that people differ in the degree to which they have some
  fairly specific aptitudes for different kinds of thinking and for
  processing different types of information. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>However they find minimal experimental evidence to indicate that students assigned to educational conditions that are adjusted to their stated learning style preferences do any better.</p>

<h3>References:</h3>

<ul>
<li>Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., Bjork, R. (2009). Learning Styles
Concepts and Evidence. <em>Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9</em>, 105. <a href="http://psi.sagepub.com/content/9/3/105.abstract" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ARTICLE</a>.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-20T20:59:24.940Z
Hello Jeromy, what do you think about the following article: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/visual-learners-convert-words-pictures-brain-and-vice-versa-says-penn-psychology-study
Fraïssé
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-22T01:32:08.583Z
@IllegalImmigrant Perhaps ask a separate question specifically about that article. i.e., a question of the form. The following article claims X. Does their evidence support that claim? etc. It would be great to see more questions of that type on this site.
Jeromy Anglim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-18T00:19:02.057Z
2014-11-18T00:19:02.057Z
2017-04-13T12:56:16.467Z
Jeromy Anglim
<p>People often identify themselves are visual, audio or kinesthetic learners. This at first sounds plausible, but when I reflect on myself, I find that I am unable to define exactly what it means to be either type of learner.</p>

<p>Can someone provide some scientific article discussing actual scientific evidence for different learning styles and perhaps some example to exactly what different learning styles means? </p>

<learning>
Is there any scientific basis to different learning styles?
Fraïssé
# Is there any scientific basis to different learning styles?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-11-18)

People often identify themselves are visual, audio or kinesthetic learners. This at first sounds plausible, but when I reflect on myself, I find that I am unable to define exactly what it means to be either type of learner.

Can someone provide some scientific article discussing actual scientific evidence for different learning styles and perhaps some example to exactly what different learning styles means?

**Tags:** learning


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-11-18. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

In response to a related question about learning styles, I provided [this answer](https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/a/962/52).

In that answer, I quote Pashler et al (2009) which is generally critical of the learning styles literature.
I quote Pashler et al where they state:

> Our review of the literature disclosed ample evidence that children
> and **adults will, if asked, express preferences about how they prefer
> information to be presented to them**. There is also plentiful evidence
> arguing that people differ in the degree to which they have some
> fairly specific aptitudes for different kinds of thinking and for
> processing different types of information.

However they find minimal experimental evidence to indicate that students assigned to educational conditions that are adjusted to their stated learning style preferences do any better.

### References:

* Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., Bjork, R. (2009). Learning Styles
  Concepts and Evidence. *Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9*, 105. [ARTICLE](http://psi.sagepub.com/content/9/3/105.abstract).

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Hello Jeromy, what do you think about the following article: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/visual-learners-convert-words-pictures-brain-and-vice-versa-says-penn-psychology-study  
> **username_1**: @IllegalImmigrant Perhaps ask a separate question specifically about that article. i.e., a question of the form. The following article claims X. Does their evidence support that claim? etc. It would be great to see more questions of that type on this site.  

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