title: Pupillary response to complex interdependent tasks: A cognitive-load theory perspective.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. rmitra@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: Ritayan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mitra
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Karen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: McNeal
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Howard D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Bondell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011680:Pupil / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive-load theory; Eye tracking; Graph reading; Task-evolved pupillometry