The Effect of Cognitive Styles on Accuracy: the Role of Working Memory

The present study aimed to examine throwing accuracy and spatial and digit working memory of field dependent-independent participants. The group embedded figure test (GEFT) was distributed among 320 male students and based on the GEFT scores, 45 participants were randomly divided into field dependent, field independent and control group (15 participants/each group). The study included two tasks (dart throwing and spatial and digit working memory). In dart throwing task, participants threw 10 darts in pre-test stage. In acquisition stage, participants threw 60 darts in 6 blocks of 10 trials. The retention test included a block of 10 trials which was performed 24 hours after the acquisition stage. The spatial and digit working memory test was performed individually with Cambridge brain science software. Data were analyzed with 2-way analysis of variance with repeated measures, one-way ANOVA test, Tukey post hoc test and Pearson correlation coefficient. The results indicated that field independent participants performed better in both tests of dart throwing and working memory than field dependent participants. The findings indicated that higher scores of the GEFT task demonstrated higher visuospatial ability (as a component of working memory) in field independent participants which may cause a better performance in spatial and digit working memory and dart throwing task.