The field dependence/independence cognitive style does not control the spatial perception of elevation

Earlier work described the presence of a significant connection between an individual's ability to disregard distracting aspects of a visual field in the classical rod-and-frame test (RFT), in which a subject is required to set a rod so that it will appear vertical in the presence of a square frame that is roll tilted from vertical, and in paper-and-pencil tests, in which the subject is required to find a hidden figure embedded in a more complex figure (the Embedded Figures Test [EFT]; see, e.g., Witkin, Dyk, Faterson, Goodenough, & Karp, 1962; Witkin et al., 1954; Witkin, Oltman, Raskin, & Karp, 1971). This has led to a belief in the existence of a bipolar dimension of cognitive style that is utilized in such disembedding tasks—namely, the extent to which an individual is dependent on or independent from the influence of a distracting visual field. The influence of an inducing visual field on the perception of elevation measured by the setting of a visual target to appear at eye level (the visually perceived eye level [VPEL] discrimination) has also been found to be correlated with the RFT. We have thus explored the possible involvement of the dependence/independence cognitive style on the VPEL discrimination. Measurements were made on each of 18 subjects (9 of them female, 9 male) setting a small target to the VPEL in the presence of a pitched visual field across a range of six pitches from −30° (topbackward) to +20° (topforward) and on each of three tests generally recognized as tests of cognitive spatial abilities: the EFT, the Gestalt Completion Test, and the Snowy Pictures Test (SPT). Although there were significant pairwise correlations relating performance on the three cognitive tests (1.73, 1.48, and 1.71), the correlation of each of these three with the slope of the VPEL-versus-pitch function was not significant, as it was with the slope of the perception of visual pitch of the field (PVP)-versus-pitch function. VPEL, PVP, and a cognitive factor separated into three essentially independent factors in a multiple-factor analysis, with the three cognitive tests clustering at the cognitive factor, and with no significant loading on either of the other two factors. From the above considerations and a multiple-factor analytic treatment including additional results from this and other laboratories, we conclude that the cognitive-processing style held to be involved in the performance on the EFT and the perception of vertical as measured by the RFT is not general for egocentric space perception; it does not involve the perception of elevation.