Picture books, not readers! Teachers use the wrong modality in presentations and students in studying.

Undergraduate students (26 women and 22 men) were tested for their visual, auditory, and tactile processing capabilities using a rigorous application of the Swassing-Barbe Modality Index. Visual presentation led to best processing. Only two students processed more information with an auditory presentation and one with a tactile presentation. Only nine students indicated using visualization with any of the presentations. As neither professors nor students optimally use students' visual dominance, research is needed to provide useful strategies to help teachers present materials in a visually-oriented way and to help students develop visualization skills for use with lectures and in studying.