The impact of sensory learning modalities on children’s sensitivity to sensory cues in the perception of their school environment Lamine Mahdjoubi * , Richard Akplotsyi Faculty of Environment and Technology, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, University of the West of England, Bristol BS161QY, UK article info Article history: Available online 19 February 2012 Keywords: Children Sensory learning modality Sensitivity School outdoor environment VAK abstract Learning style models recognised that individuals differ in the sense learning modality of stimuli from which they best absorb, retain and process new information. The effect of sensory learning modalities on individual children’s sensitivity to sensory cues has so far been neglected. This paper reports on a study that sought to establish whether individual differences in children’s sensitivity to sensory cues in their perception of their school environmental features is influenced by their sensory learning modalities. Participants included Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils (N ¼ 151) from four primary schools in South Glouces- tershire, UK. The study used a child-friendly Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic questionnaire to establish children’s learning style modality. All children, independent of their learning style category, were exposed to three types of sensory cues, consisting of photo-safari, speech frequency and Global Posi- tioning System. The analysis revealed that children’s sensitivity to sensory cues in their perception of school environmental features varied significantly between the three sensory learning modalities: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. The implications of these findings on research, policy and practice are discussed. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Research in environmental perception has established that different sensory and environmental stimuli affect the way people perceive and react to their environment (Knez, 2001). Individuals differ on the way they respond to and are affected by cues. Mehrabian (1977) accounted for the individual differences by the ability to involuntarily screen out less important aspects of stim- ulation in various sensory channels. This proposition was sup- ported by Maher and von Hippel (2005) who found that stimulus screening ability is an important factor in determining an individ- ual’s ability to cope with the distractions inherent in the open-plan environment. Others explained individual differences by sensory dominance. A study conducted by Mehrabian and Ferris (1967) found that the visual component was approximately one and a half times more influential than of the auditory component. Although Gifford and Fan Ng’s (1982) findings confirmed the dominance of vision over hearing in forming an impression of the environment, they concluded, however, that the magnitude of the dominance was variable. Despite the established importance of individual differences, the issue has not been fully considered. As early as 1982, Gifford and Fan Ng (1982) drew attention to the lack of research in the medi- ating influence of individual differences in sensitivity to sensory stimuli. More recently Dijkstra, Pieterse, and Pruyn (2008) reiter- ated that individual differences in sensitivity to environmental stimuli have not received much attention. 1.1. The present study In the learning style theory, it is well-documented that indi- viduals differ in the sense modality of stimuli from which they best absorb, retain and process new information (Harrison, Andrews, & Saklofske, 2003). The parametric study, reported in this paper, seeks to determine whether individual children’s sensitivity to sensory stimuli is mediated by their learning modalities. The research represents a convergence of two disciplines: environ- mental psychology and education. It seeks to harness advances in learning styles research to shed light on the mediating role of sensory learning modalities on children’s affinity to sensory cues in their perception of their school environment. The concept of sensitivity to stimuli has received a great deal of attention. For instance, research examined whether individual differences in auditory sensitivity affect the relative weight assigned to auditory and visual cues in environmental perception * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 1173283915. E-mail address: lamine.mahdjoubi@uwe.ac.uk (L. Mahdjoubi). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jep 0272-4944/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2012.02.002 Journal of Environmental Psychology 32 (2012) 208e215