ABSTRACT
The cognitive capability of soccer players to recognise situations is one of the important factors which determine performance. Using Witkin’s ‘field dependenceindependence theory' (Witkin et al., 1977), studies have investigated the cognitive styles of athletes in sports (Kane, 1972; Drouin et al., 1986; Cano and Marquez, 1995; McMorris, 1997). These dealt with participants in closed-and open-skilldominated sports. Many suggested that participants who had field dependence could be at an advantage in the open-skilled sports. On the other hand, they also argued that individuals who had field independence could be more suited to closed-skilled sports. While differences of cognitive style were found by some researchers, others indicated no differences between them (Drouin, et al., 1986; Brady, 1995). Thus most researchers into the cognitive styles of athletes and field dependence-independence, argued between closed-and open-skill-dominated sports.
