M. KAWAHARA, K. MATSUOKA
trast, those of the welfare students were significantly lower than
average (zobj, t = −2.83, p < .01; zspat, t = −3.00, p < .01). The
education and literature students scored significantly lower than
average only in zspat (education, t = −3.14, p < .01; literature, t =
−7.23, p < .001). Finally, the agriculture students’ zobj and zspat
scores did not significantly differ from average values.
Additionally, a one-way ANOVA was performed to examine
the differences in zobj/zspat scores among the students in seven
departments. The students’ zobj scores differed significantly
among departments, F(6, 907) = 11.07, p < .001. Multiple com-
parisons with Bonferroni correction showed that the art stu-
dents’ zobj scores were significantly higher than those of stu-
dents in the other six fields. Furthermore, zobj scores were sig-
nificantly higher in medical and education students than welfare
students. Similarly, a one-way ANOVA on zspat scores revealed
significant differences among students in different departments,
F(6, 907) = 34.12, p< .001. Multiple comparisons with Bon-
ferroni correction showed that the engineering students’ zspat
scores were significantly higher than those of students in the
other six departments. In addition, the medical students’ zspat
scores were significantly higher than those of students in the art,
welfare, education, and literature departments. The patterns of
zobj and zspat scores in each field of study are shown in Figure 3.
Discussion
The purpose of the present study was to examine object-spa-
tial imagery type in Japanese college students.
First, we investigated object-spatial imagery type in Japanese
college students by the means, standard deviations, score dis-
tributions, and gender differences of the object and spatial im-
agery scales of the J-OSIQ. The means and ratings of the
J-OSIQ object imagery scale tended to be higher than those of
the J-OSIQ spatial imagery scale. Furthermore, gender differ-
ences were found on both the object and spatial imagery scales
of the J-OSIQ. These results are consistent with those of previ-
ous studies (Blajenkova et al., 2006; Blazhenkova & Kozhev-
nikov, 2009) that assessed the reliability of the original version
of the questionnaire. On the other hand, although the means of
the two J-OSIQ subscales were slightly lower than those of the
original version (object imagery scale = 3.59; spatial imagery
scale = 2.93), these values are more in line with those of
Kawahara and Matsuoka (2012), who developed the J-OSIQ
(object imagery scale = 2.89; spatial imagery scale = 2.49).
Figure 3.
Object and spatial imagery z-scores for students in seven different
departments.
Overall, the descriptive statistics and gender differences of the
J-OSIQ in this study are consistent with those of previous stud-
ies (Blajenkova et al., 2006; Blazhenkova & Kozhevnikov,
2009; Kawahara & Masuoka, 2012).
Second, we investigated the patterns of the object and spatial
imagery types of students in various academic fields. The art
students showed above-average zobj scores and below-average
zspat scores, whereas the engineering students showed a score
pattern opposite to that of the art students. These results support
those of previous studies (Blazhenkova & Kozhevnikov, 2010;
Kozhevnikov et al., 2010), in which artists and scientists
showed trade-off between the object and spatial imagery types.
At the same time, this study also revealed that welfare students
showed below-average zobj and zspat scores and that medical
students showed above-average values. These results do not
correspond to trade-off between the object and spatial imagery
types. However, there is evidence showing that professionals in
humanities or social science are advantaged in verbal rather
than visual imagery processing (Blazhenkova & Kozhevnikov,
2009). Therefore, students majoring in education, welfare, or
literature may prefer verbal processing over visual imagery
processing. Additionally, many medical skills require both
analytic processing (which is involved with spatial imagery)
and creative processing (which is closely related to object im-
agery; Fujioka, 1987). Hence, above-average scores on both zobj
and zspat might be obtained by medical students because their
educational training requires both analytic and creative thinking.
These findings suggest that the relationship between object and
spatial imagery types is not necessarily characterized by a
trade-off; therefore, trade-off theory is limited to students in
departments such as art and engineering.
Furthermore, we also compared the tendencies with respect
to object-spatial imagery type among students in seven different
academic fields. The results indicated that the art students had
the highest zobj scores and that the engineering students had the
highest zspat scores among the seven departments. These results
reveal that among the seven studied fields, the tendency to use
the object and spatial imagery types is the largest among stu-
dents majoring in art and engineering, respectively. In conclu-
sion, the different patterns of object-spatial imagery type
among students in seven different academic fields demonstrated
that the students in each department have specialized tendencies
in terms of object-spatial imagery type.
In summary, the present study showed that the cognitive
style model of object-spatial imagery type is applicable to
Japanese college students. Additionally, the differences in im-
agery type between students in seven different academic fields
led us to the conclusion that object-spatial imagery style is
closely related to academic curiosity and professional aptitude;
therefore, individual imagery type data might be helpful for
future interventions involving career guidance and educational
training. Recently, a new model of cognitive style (object-spa-
tial-verbal cognitive style) added a verbal dimension to the two
imagery dimensions proposed by Blazhenkova and Kozhev-
nikov (2009). Therefore, additional research on cognitive style,
including the verbal type, would be required in order to deter-
mine individuals’ object-spatial-verbal cognitive styles.
REFERENCES
Blajenkova, O., Kozhevnikov, M., & Motes, M. A. (2006). Object-
spatial imagery: A new self-report imagery questionnaire. Applied
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