Presentation
Relationships of Eye Gaze Metrics between Cognitive Processes and Strategy in Spatial Problem-Solving
Event Type
Lecture
Education
TimeWednesday, October 12th2:45pm - 3:00pm EDT
LocationA705
DescriptionSpatial strategies and cognitive processes have been separately found to indicate performance in spatial problem-solving, but their relationships have not been investigated quantitatively. This study employed eye-tracking to characterize and determine the relationship of the cognitive processes and spatial strategies employed by young adults with low spatial ability. Eighty-eight engineering students with low spatial ability were recruited to complete test items in the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations and the Santa Barbara Solids Test. Eye-tracking data were collected to indicate the encoding, transformation, confirmation cognitive processes as well as the employed strategy. Strategy ratio indicating whether holistic or piecemeal strategy was employed and correlated with encoding fixations more than other cognitive processes. This finding suggests that the encoding process may be more indicative of employed spatial strategies than the transform and confirmation processes. Thus, pedagogical practices for low spatial ability students should increase focus on improving the encoding process.