Syntactic complexity and cognitive style

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Abstract
In Study 1, writing samples from secondary and post-secondary students were used to examine the underlying structures of 16 indices of syntactic complexity known to be related to good writing. Factor analysis revealed six syntactic dimensions: unbound description, coordination, unbound description-final position, embedding, elongation, and prepositions. Subscales were constructed to assess each dimension. The purpose of Study 2 was to examine correlations among the six syntactic dimensions and three measures of cognitive style: field-embeddedness, category width, and perceptual accuracy. A coincidence of significant correlations between nearly all of the syntactic subscales and measures of both field-independence and reflectivity indicated an association between syntactic complexity and an analytic cognitive style. Preferred styles of organization applied to verbal and to visual stimuli alike. The ability to analytically perceive spatial relationships is clearly associated with the ability to manipulate language effectively.

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