Effect of Cognitive Style on Topographical Learning across Life Span: Insights from Normal Development

Notwithstanding its well-established role on high-demanding spatial navigation tasks during adulthood, the effect of field dependence-independence during the acquisition of spatial navigation skills is almost unknown. This study assessed for the first time the effect of field dependence-independence on topographical learning (TL) across the life span: 195 individuals, including 54 healthy young-adults (age-range = 20-30), 46 teenagers (age-range = 11-14), and 95 children (age-range = 6-9) participated in this study. Field dependence-independence interacted with age in predicting TL. Also during childhood higher field independence was associated with better performances but not later in the life, that is, during adolescence and adulthood. This result suggests that field dependence-independence may have a role in fostering the acquisition of TL.