Using NeuroIS Tools to Understand How Individual Characteristics Relate to Cognitive Behaviors of Students

NeuroIS tools have increasingly been used to examine cognitive behaviors in educational settings. Here we present results of ongoing work applying neurophysiological tools to examine the cognitive load of student learners in the context of chemistry education. In particular, we investigate how individual characteristics relate to the Pope Engagement Index for students interacting with an information system for visualizing molecules. Characteristics such as meditation, levels of athleticism, and medication affecting alertness were found to significantly and positively correlate with cognitive load.