Open AccessThis article is an attempt to understand a particular aspect of the Ehrman and Leaver (henceforth E&L) scale of cognitive learner styles. It describes the scale and observes that of its first two variables the second one was added at a later point to remedy, as it seems, an ambiguity in the first variable but that addition duplicated a logical flaw now tainting both variables: having contradictory terms as poles. As a result, these two variables cannot function as the scoring continuums they are meant to be. All that could have been avoided had E&L taken advantage of an old insight by Ramirez and Castaneda, who suggested juxtaposing field sensitivity (rather than field dependence) with field independence. Replacing the first two variables with one a la Ramirez and Castaneda may have been precisely what the E&L Scale needed to retain its consistency and effectiveness as a scoring tool. E&L were aware of that option but apparently chose not to use it in a variable. That, however, rendered their logically shaky scale theoretically excessive with no added pedagogical benefits.