Learning styles: the myth of visual and auditory learners

The idea that each of us learns best in our own way, as a visual, auditory or hands-on learner, is one of the most widespread ideas about learning. There are tests that tell you which style you have and study tips for every style. The idea has very weak support. People have real preferences, but tailoring teaching to them hasn't been shown to improve results. This article covers what the research says and what works instead, and it gives you four paths based on what you need to learn.

What the idea says

There are many versions of learning styles. The best known sorts people into four groups: those who learn best by seeing, by hearing, by reading and writing, and by doing. A questionnaire decides which group you belong to, and then you're supposed to study that way.

It sounds reasonable, and there's some truth in it. Most people have a sense of how they prefer to take things in, and we differ in how good we are at different kinds of thinking. But the real question is a different one: do you learn more when you're taught in your style than when you're taught some other way?

What's missing from the research

In 2008, Pashler and colleagues were asked to find out whether there was any support for tailoring teaching to learning styles. First they described what a test of the idea would need. People with different styles should be randomly assigned to different kinds of teaching and then take the same test. If the idea holds, visual learners should learn most from pictures and auditory learners most from listening. In other words, the best method should differ from group to group.

They found almost no studies that had tested the idea that way. Of the few that had, several argued against it. Their conclusion was that there wasn't enough support to use learning styles in teaching, and that time and money would do more good spent on methods with stronger support.

In 2018, Husmann and O'Loughlin looked at how more than 400 anatomy students actually studied. Most didn't study the way their style said they should, and those who did got no better grades. No style was linked to grades. Certain ways of studying, however, were linked to better grades regardless of the student's style, such as working with a digital microscope. The study shows correlation, not causation, but it points in the same direction.

Choose your approach based on the content, not on yourself

What works is choosing your approach based on what you need to learn. A map is best learned as a picture, whether or not you call yourself visual. Pronunciation is learned by listening and saying it out loud. Changing a tire is learned by doing it. The content decides, and that goes for everyone.

The label can also get in the way. Someone who has decided they're a hands-on learner may stop reading, and someone who calls themselves visual may skip testing themselves because it doesn't feel like their style. But testing yourself and spacing out your review work for everyone, as in the guide to study techniques and studying for exams.

Four paths, based on what you need to learn

Places, parts and connections. For when you need to learn a map, the parts of the body or how something fits together. Draw it yourself from memory, then compare it with the original. First step: draw what you're studying right now on a blank sheet of paper without looking.

Pronunciation and language. For when you're studying a language or preparing a speech. Listen, and say it out loud. Reading silently isn't enough for something that's meant to be spoken. First step: read five sentences out loud today and record yourself.

A hands-on skill. For when you're learning something with your hands, like cooking, playing an instrument or using a piece of software. Do it, many times, and only read the instructions when you get stuck. First step: do the task once today without reading everything beforehand.

Combine images and words. For when you want to go further, and it's the most demanding path. Make a picture of what you've read and write in your own words what the picture shows. This forces you to understand the connections instead of just recognizing them. First step: pick a section and make a simple picture with one sentence under each part.

A first step today: take whatever you're studying right now and ask yourself what kind of knowledge it is. Then choose your approach based on the answer, not on what you believe about yourself.

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