Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
Behav Res Methods. 2017 Oct;49(5):1905-1919. doi: 10.3758/s13428-016-0833-y.
Pupil dilation is known to indicate cognitive load. In this study, we looked at the average pupillary responses of a cohort of 29 undergraduate students during graphical problem solving. Three questions were asked, based on the same graphical input. The questions were interdependent and comprised multiple steps. We propose a novel way of analyzing pupillometry data for such tasks on the basis of eye fixations, a commonly used eyetracking parameter. We found that pupil diameter increased during the solution process. However, pupil diameter did not always reflect the expected cognitive load. This result was studied within a cognitive-load theory model. Higher-performing students showed evidence of germane load and schema creation, indicating use of the interdependent nature of the tasks to inform their problem-solving process. However, lower-performing students did not recognize the interdependent nature of the tasks and solved each problem independently, which was expressed in a markedly different pupillary response pattern. We discuss the import of our findings for instructional design.
瞳孔扩张已知可指示认知负荷。在这项研究中，我们观察了 29 名本科生在图形问题解决过程中的平均瞳孔反应。基于相同的图形输入，提出了三个问题。这些问题相互依存，包含多个步骤。我们提出了一种基于眼动注视的新方法来分析此类任务的瞳孔测量数据，这是一种常用的眼动跟踪参数。我们发现，瞳孔直径在解决过程中会增加。然而，瞳孔直径并不总是反映预期的认知负荷。这一结果是在认知负荷理论模型中进行研究的。表现更好的学生表现出相关负荷和图式创建的证据，表明他们利用任务的相互依存性质来告知他们的解决问题的过程。然而，表现较差的学生没有意识到任务的相互依存性质，而是独立解决每个问题，这在明显不同的瞳孔反应模式中得到了体现。我们讨论了我们的发现对教学设计的重要性。
