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Updated: Feb 25, 2026
Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension
Published on: January 10, 2014
Self-regulated learning from illustrated text: Eye movement modelling to support use and regulation of cognitive
Katharina Scheiter1,2, Carina Schubert1, Anne Schüler1
1Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany.
Background:
When learning with text and pictures, learners often fail to adequately process the materials, which can be explained as a failure to self-regulate one's learning by choosing adequate cognitive learning processes. Eye movement modelling examples (EMME) showing how to process multimedia instruction have improved elementary school children's learning from text and pictures in previous studies.
Aims:
We tested whether the positive effects of EMME for improving self-regulated multimedia learning extend to university students and teaching of more comprehensive processing strategies. Moreover, we investigated whether EMME's effectiveness depends upon a learner's cognitive prerequisites.
Sample:
Participants were 50 university students (38 female; M = 26.88 years) with different study majors.
Methods:
Different prior knowledge aspects were assessed as cognitive prerequisites. Before learning about mitosis from a multimedia instruction, students either received no intervention or saw EMME demonstrating various multimedia learning processes. Learning outcomes and eye movements served as dependent variables.
Results:
Learners in the EMME group showed more intense processing of pictures and more frequent transitions between text and pictures. Weaker learners showed poorer recall performance after having studied EMME, whereas EMME had no effect on stronger students. In the forced-choice verification task, stronger students benefitted from EMME, whereas no effect occurred for weaker students. The picture-processing time was suited to explain the positive effects of EMME for stronger students.
Conclusions:
Our results indicate that EMME illustrating a comprehensive set of cognitive processes support multimedia learning for stronger university students.
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