Open research questions in Learning Styles and Cognitive Differences

What the literature leaves open

• There is a gap in understanding the learning preferences of pre-service teachers in Ghana. The paper identifies a need to examine the association between learning style classifications and gender, teaching-level specialisation, and programme family. The study highlights the limitations of prior research in supporting rigidly matching instruction to fixed learning style categories.

  Patterns of Honey–Mumford learning-style scores and classifications among pre-service teachers in Ghana · 2026 · DOI

• The study notes that prior work has not fully explored the use of varied instructional strategies for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.

  Learning Style-Based Differentiated Instruction for an Improved Student's Life and Career Skills in Technology and Livelihood Education · 2026 · DOI

• There is a need to examine the relationship among teaching styles, learning styles, and reading comprehension levels of Grade 7 learners. There is a lack of studies that provide a basis for developing a Reading Awareness Guide that may help improve reading performance and promote greater awareness of teaching and learning styles.

  Teaching Styles, Learning Styles, and Reading Comprehension Levels: Bases for a Reading Awareness Guide · 2026 · DOI

• The diversity of students' learning styles can make it challenging for teachers to design effective instructional approaches. The study's findings highlight the need for teachers to consider the diversity of students' learning styles.

  PENGARUH GAYA BELAJAR TERHADAP OPTIMALISASI RETENSI MEMORI SISWA PADA MATERI PEMBELAJARAN DI KELAS TINGGI SEKOLAH DASAR: STUDI LITERATUR · 2026 · DOI

• The study aims to address this gap by examining the characteristics of learning styles and the mechanisms of memory retention.

  PENGARUH GAYA BELAJAR TERHADAP OPTIMALISASI RETENSI MEMORI SISWA PADA MATERI PEMBELAJARAN DI KELAS TINGGI SEKOLAH DASAR: STUDI LITERATUR · 2026 · DOI

• While further investigation is necessary to explore long-term effects and other influencing factors, these results highlight the potential of the CCM-CCA model as an instructional strategy that fosters critical thinking in diverse classroom settings and enhances students’ ability to engage with complex scientific concepts.

  Advanced Learning Dynamics: The Role of CCM-CCA Models in Addressing Misconceptions and Enhancing Critical Thinking Across Cognitive Styles · 2026 · DOI

• A lack of consensus on the validity of LSs. Insufficient pedagogical perspectives on the application of LSs. A need for a pedagogical basis to relate digital resources to learner profiles.

  Exploring the Relationship Between Learning Styles and Digital Educational Resources in Adaptive Learning Systems · 2025 · DOI

• The identification of learning styles has been based on self-assessment questionnaires, which may not accurately reflect actual learning behaviors. There is a need for a more robust and dynamic approach to learner profiling that can integrate multiple data sources.

  The Learning Style Decoder: FSLSM-Guided Behavior Mapping Meets Deep Neural Prediction in LMS Settings · 2025 · DOI

• Research studies on Spectrum of Teaching Styles (STS) theories have verified that mastering and implementing various teaching styles is the ideal way to match up the needs of diverse learners, the variety of content knowledge, and educational goals; however, little is known about how student teachers use and perceive various STS.

  Differences Between Student Teachers’ Implementation and Perceptions of Teaching Styles · 2016 · DOI

• Grounded in Multifactorial Gender Identity Theory (MGIT) (Spence, 1993) and Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) (Kolb, 1984), the current study is an important first step in explaining some of the inconsistent findings surrounding gender and the process.

  Preferred Learning Styles among College Students: Does Sex Matter? · 2014 · DOI

• While the need to adapt teaching to the needs of a student is generally acknowledged (see Corno and Snow, 1986, for a wide review of the literature), little is known about the impact of individual learner-differences on the quality of learning attained within computer-based learning environments (CBLEs).

  Learning styles: individualizing computer-based learning environments · 1995 · DOI

• Koppleman (1980) suggested that investigations conducted on the relationship between a person’s learning style and the manner in which he/she teaches were insufficient.

  The Relationship Between Agriculture Preservice Teachers' Learning Styles And Performance In a Methods Of Teaching Agriculture Course · 1994 · DOI

• The modality model is widely used in learning disabilities education, but its efficacy is unclear. There is a lack of empirical evidence to support the modality model. The paper's findings challenge the widely-held assumption that the modality model is effective.

  Substance over Style: Assessing the Efficacy of Modality Testing and Teaching · 1987 · DOI

• There is a lack of empirical evidence to support the modality model. Prior work has suggested that the modality model is effective, but this claim is not supported by empirical evidence.

  Substance over Style: Assessing the Efficacy of Modality Testing and Teaching · 1987 · DOI

• How such metastrategies might be measured remains to be determined but Baron, Badgio & Gaskins (1986) have developed an interesting approach.

  Cognitive Styles: an integrated model · 1987 · DOI

• The lack of empirical theories of teaching-learning processes. The complexity of classroom phenomena. The need to develop more nuanced understandings of classroom processes and their impact on pupil outcomes.

  Changing Perspectives on Teaching‐learning Processes in the Post‐Plowden Era · 1987 · DOI

• The lack of readily available questionnaires, instruments, simulations, or the like, directly related to education. The absence of training instruments directly applicable to education.

  A change‐orientation questionnaire · 1987 · DOI

• A follow-up study employing factor analysis will use the 16 other items to determine which qualities or traits students attributed to the writer of these messages.

  An Empirical Assessment of Style: Trained and Untrained Students' Responses · 1986 · DOI

• The lack of empirical research evaluating the reader's ability to recognize differences in business style. The need to understand how students perceive and classify different writing styles.

  An Empirical Assessment of Style: Trained and Untrained Students' Responses · 1986 · DOI

• The study highlights the need for more research on cultural variations in visual information processing. The study notes that prior work has not adequately addressed the question of a unique Afro-American cognitive style.

  Is There an Afro-American Cognitive Style? An Exploratory Study · 1986 · DOI

• The lack of synthesis in learning style research. The confusion of definitions and wide scope of behaviors claimed to be predicted by learning style models.

  Assessment, classification and implications of learning styles in instructional interactions · 1986 · DOI

• Future research could compare a teacher's general pattern of communication to the pattern in the classroom. Future research could investigate the impact of stylistic frames on learning outcomes.

  Communicator style in teaching: Giving good form to content · 1986 · DOI

• The paper highlights the need to explore the pragmatic effects of communicator style.

  Communicator style in teaching: Giving good form to content · 1986 · DOI

• The study focuses on a specific learning style model and may not be generalizable to other models - The dataset is limited to undergraduate students from multiple universities across…

  DistilBERT-based Text Classification for Learning Style Identification Based on the Felder-Silverman Model · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the existing literature on automated learning style identification - There is a need for more research on the use of transformer-based language models for learning style…

  DistilBERT-based Text Classification for Learning Style Identification Based on the Felder-Silverman Model · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Learning Styles and Cognitive Differences

• Why Teachers Adopt a Controlling Motivating Style Toward Students and How They Can Become More Autonomy Supportive · Educational Psychologist · 2009 · 1,069 citations
• Decision-Making Style: The Development and Assessment of a New Measure · Educational and Psychological Measurement · 1995 · 813 citations
• Understanding Student Differences · Journal of Engineering Education · 2005 · 760 citations
• Cognitive Styles—an overview and integration · Educational Psychology · 1991 · 697 citations
• STYLES AND STRATEGIES OF LEARNING · British Journal of Educational Psychology · 1976 · 607 citations
• Teaching Learners To Be Self-Directed · Adult Education Quarterly · 1991 · 564 citations
• Learning Styles: An overview of theories, models, and measures · Educational Psychology · 2004 · 495 citations
• The Learning Style Preferences of ESL Students · TESOL Quarterly · 1987 · 403 citations
• Metacognitive, cognitive and affective aspects of learning styles and strategies: A phenomenographic analysis · Higher Education · 1996 · 390 citations
• The nature of cognitive styles: Problems and promise in educational practice · Educational Psychologist · 1984 · 387 citations

Most recent work

• The melancholic engineer: emotional intelligibility and the costs of persistence in engineering education · European Journal of Engineering Education · 2026
• Design an adaptive e-learning environment based on personalized factors and its impact on the development of students' metacognitive thinking skills · Frontiers in Education · 2026
• Exploring the development of pre-service science teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs through guided inquiry-based laboratory instruction: The role of cognitive styles · Teaching and Teacher Education · 2026
• Using real-time process data of domain-specific learning processes to provide adaptive support for learning and instruction: Challenges and opportunities · Learning and Instruction · 2026
• Four decades of change: The evolution of teaching styles in Nigerian science education (1983–2023) · International Journal of Educational Development · 2026
• The adaptive function of analytic thinking styles: Balancing effort and accuracy in meta-reasoning · Cognition · 2026
• How do cognitive styles affect knowledge creation in human-GenAI collaboration? The role of knowledge seeking and GenAI personalisation · International Journal of Information Management · 2026
• Psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the VARK learning style inventory for athletes · BMC Sports Science Medicine and Rehabilitation · 2026
• A Comparative Study of Transactional Styles Inventory–Teachers (TSI-T) for Engineering and School Faculty · International Journal of Advanced Research in Science Communication and Technology · 2026
• ADAPTIVE TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR DIVERSE LEARNERS · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026

Related topics in Psychology