In a Street Memory Test, Tricks Seemed to Matter More Than Learning Style
Strangers were confident about how they learned best, and an informal 10-picture tryout suggested the labels mattered less than the tactics people used.
Veritasium · The Biggest Myth In EducationOn a busy sidewalk, Derek, a science video maker stopping strangers to talk about learning, wanted to try out the popular idea that each person has a fixed learning style. He started with a simple question. He asked, "What kind of learner are you?"
Many people had a ready answer. One passerby said, "Oh yeah, I'm a visual person so I have to see things, yeah." Others said they learned by doing it themselves, describing themselves as very hands-on.
To explore the idea, Derek ran a small memory tryout. He said, "I want to show you 10 pictures of things and I don't want you to say anything while you're looking at them, and at the end of the 10 you tell me how many you can remember." Some self-described visual learners got pictures, as they preferred. Other visual learners instead just heard the names of the objects read aloud.
This was an informal street test with a handful of people, not a controlled comparison. Derek called it a very unscientific version of an experiment, and anecdotal evidence. It suggested that whether the presentation matched what people said they preferred mattered less than whether they used a trick, but the controlled studies described later in the video are what establish that matching instruction to style gives no advantage.
Most people landed in the same middling place. They recalled five or six items out of 10, rattling off a mix of bell, penguin, sun, knife, duck, heart, and butterfly before running dry. Derek told one of them, "Six out of 10 which is not bad, right?" There were also shared failures. When one man forgot an item, Derek prompted him with the missing word, and noted that everyone forgets that one.
The turn came with the few who remembered eight or nine. One man who scored near the top explained that he had not simply stared. He said, "So as you were showing I was making an order in my head," adding each new picture to a list he repeated silently so he could say it out loud later.
Another high scorer used a different trick. He had linked the unrelated objects into a single narrative. He said, "So I guess I tried creating a story 'cause it's easier to remember a story than just individual objects." The two high scorers both described using a memory strategy, an observation from this informal tryout rather than proof about what caused the higher scores.
Questions people ask
What does VARK mean?
VARK stands for Visual, Auditory, Reading-Writing, and Kinesthetic. It claims visual learners learn best from pictures, auditory learners from listening, reading-writing learners from text, and kinesthetic learners from physical doing. It is the most widely known version of learning styles theory.
Has anyone tested learning styles more rigorously than a street quiz?
Controlled studies have found no advantage to matching instruction to a student's stated style. In one test, students classed as visualizers or verbalizers were randomly given picture or text lessons, and matched students scored no better. The same lack of effect appeared in several follow-up experiments.
Are repeating a list and making up a story real memory techniques?
The two men used rehearsal and linking items in a story. Making material meaningful by connecting it, as in a story, is well supported as a study tactic. Simple repetition mainly helps hold items briefly for immediate recall.