Cognitive Style and Gender Differences in Drawing from Memory Versus Copying in 11‐year‐old Children

Abstract

A total of 71 11‐year‐old children were asked to draw two pictures: one by copying and one from memory. The quality of each of their drawings was assessed on a five‐point scale by four adult judges rating independently. The cognitive style of each child was assessed by means of the Cognitive Styles Analysis. A significant effect of Verbal‐Imagery Style was observed in which Verbalisers were superior to Imagers in overall drawing performance. There was also a significant interaction between drawing task‐type and gender in which females were superior to males, particularly in drawing from memory. These findings were discussed in terms of the representation of information in memory.