Psychology
in
the
Schools
I98
I,
18,
455-459
COGNITIVE CONTROLS AND READING DISABILITIES REVISITED’
ALBERT
J.
COTUGNO~
University
of
Cali/ornia. Berkeley
This study attempts to replicate the findings of Santostefano, Rutledge, and Randell
(1969,
which demonstrated a relationship between the cognitive control called field
articulation and reading disability
in
school-aged children. Two groups, reading dis-
ability and nonreading disability, were administered a series
of
cognitive control
measures. The results confirm the findings of earlier studies that the cognitive control
called field articulation is clearly implicated
in
the reading process. Performance
on
this control significantly differentiates between children who demonstrate reading dis-
abilities and those who do not.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, research into the concepts of cognitive styles
(Kagan,
Moss,
&
Siegal, 1973; Witkin, Dyk, Faterson, Goodenough,
&
Karp, 1962;
Witkin, Lewis, Hertzman, Machover, Meissner,
&
Wagner, 1954) and of cognitive con-
trols (Gardner, 1964; Gardner, Holzman, Klein, Linton,
&
Spence, 1959; Klein, 1958)
showed promise for understanding the role of active cognitive processes and mechanisms
in
learning.
A
number of cognitive styles and cognitive controls were proposed to ac-
count for unique ways in which an individual actively selects, sorts, and organizes infor-
mation
in
his environment.
THE CONCEPT
OF
COGNITIVE
CONTROLS
As research in these areas continued, cognitive controls began to be viewed as a
system of cognitive functions
in
a structural arrangement geared toward regulation
(Gardner, et al., 1959), hence the term cognitive “control.” Cognitive controls were
defined as:
. . .
slow-changing, developmentally stabilized structures: (a) they are relatively in-
variant over a given class of situations and intentions; (b) they are operative despite
the shifts
in
situational and behavioral contexts typical of cognitive activity from
moment to moment. Cognitive controls refer to a level of organization that is more
general than the specific structural components underlying perception, recall, and
judgement. (Gardner, et al., 1959, p.5)
The concept of cognitive controls was extended to work with children (Santostefano,
1964, 1969, 1978; Santostefano
&
Paley, 1964; Santostefano, Rutledge,
&
Randell,
1965) as efforts were begun to better understand those cognitive processes critical to
learning. Santostefano (1978) has formulated a conceptual model for the cognitive con-
trol functioning of children that includes the following structures
or
cognitive controls:
(a) body ego and tempo regulation, (b) focal attention (called focusing by Gardner, et al.,
1959), (c) field articulation (earlier called constricted-flexible and field independence-
dependence by Gardner, et al., 1959),
(d)
leveling-sharpening, and
(e)
equivalence range.
The purpose of this study was to replicate an earlier study by Santostefano, et al.
(
1965) that established a relationship between the cognitive control called field articula-
‘This research was conducted as part of a larger project supported by funds from the Instructional
Laboratory, School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, under the sponsorship of Eli
M.
Bower.
*The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Pamela Davis
in
data collection.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Albert
J.
Cotugno,
6356
Conlon Ave.,
El
Cerrito, CA
94530.
455