ArticleFrontiers in psychology2015
The Learning Styles Myth is Thriving in Higher Education.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Is hybrid-PBL advancing teaching in biomedicine? A systematic review.BMC medical education · 2019Pooled it
- Perceived positive social interdependence in online versus face-to-face team-based learning styles of collaborative learning: a randomized, controlled, mixed-methods study.BMC medical education · 2022Trial
- Technical system of electroencephalography-based brain-computer interface: Advances, applications, and challenges.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- Assessment of Learning Styles and Reaction Times Among Health Care Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.Cureus · 2026Article
- Learning styles or study approaches in medical schools: a study of a pebble thrown into the water.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between Learning and Thinking Styles and the Performance of Female Pharmacy Students in an Anatomy Course.Advances in medical education and practice · 2025Article
- Evaluation of veterinary students' suture performance according to three different instructional modalities.Open veterinary journal · 2024Article
- Beware the myth: learning styles affect parents', children's, and teachers' thinking about children's academic potential.NPJ science of learning · 2023Article
- Article
- What Happens to the Principles of Evidence-Based Practice When Clinicians Become Educators? A Case Study of the Learning Styles Neuromyth.Medical science educator · 2023Article
- Do learning style preferences influence the cumulative gross point average and self directed learning hours in dental students: a preliminary study.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Neuroscience Knowledge and Endorsement of Neuromyths among Educators: What Is the Scenario in Brazil?Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Do Medical Students' Learning Styles and Approaches Explain Their Views and Behavior Regarding Lecture Attendance?Medical science educator · 2021Article
- Front-loading of anatomy content has no effect on long-term anatomy knowledge retention among physical therapy students: a prospective cohort study.BMC medical education · 2021Article
- Translating the learning sciences into practice: A primer for clinical and translational educators.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2021Review
- The Learning Styles Neuromyth Is Still Thriving in Medical Education.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
- Online sonification for golf putting gesture: reduced variability of motor behaviour and perceptual judgement.Experimental brain research · 2020Article
- Providing Instruction Based on Students' Learning Style Preferences Does Not Improve Learning.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- The relation of dental students' learning styles to their satisfaction with traditional and inverted classroom models.BMC medical education · 2019Article
- Genetics and Learning: How the Genes Influence Educational Attainment.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The existence of 'Learning Styles' is a common 'neuromyth', and their use in all forms of education has been thoroughly and repeatedly discredited in the research literature. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that their use remains widespread. This perspective article is an attempt to understand if and why the myth of Learning Styles persists. I have done this by analyzing the current research literature to capture the picture that an educator would encounter were they to search for "Learning Styles" with the intent of determining whether the research evidence supported their use. The overwhelming majority (89%) of recent research papers, listed in the ERIC and PubMed research databases, implicitly or directly endorse the use of Learning Styles in Higher Education. These papers are dominated by the VAK and Kolb Learning Styles inventories. These presence of these papers in the pedagogical literature demonstrates that an educator, attempting to take an evidence-based approach to education, would be presented with a strong yet misleading message that the use of Learning Styles is endorsed by the current research literature. This has potentially negative consequences for students and for the field of education research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.