Gaze patterns reveal difficulty levels in the resolution of mathematical tasks

Abstracto

Abstract This article presents the findings of a mixed-methods research study that investigated students’ ocular activity while they engaged with a video-based mathematical task focused on infinite iterative processes. The objective of this study was to examine potential correlations between ocular activity metrics captured via the eye-tracking technique and varying levels of task difficulty associated with unconscious cognitive processing during learning. The difficulty level categories were established based on two types of criteria: a subjective one, through an evaluation carried out by the subjects, and a behavioral one, related to obtaining the correct solution. Correlations of these categories with ocular activity parameters, which are considered indicators of mental effort and the cognitive load index, were identified. Fixation-related parameters correlated with perceived task difficulty levels, supporting the role of these ocular activity parameters as indicators of conscious information processing, highlighting the role of students’ prior knowledge in shaping the relationship between students’ difficulties in solving a mathematical task and the task’s difficulty levels, and showing their impact on their ability to manage unconscious cognitive processes. The results suggest that gaze patterns and students’ ocular activity reflect the difficulty of tasks involving abstract mathematical concepts, such as infinite iterative processes, while also providing insight into the unconscious cognitive mechanisms and the difficulties involved in the learning processes.