Cognitive Engagement Research Articles

A Dual-Factor Examination of Adolescent Mental Health and School Engagement

AbstractPrevious research has indicated that student mental health is linked to their engagement at school. However, there is a lack of empirical studies examining students’ school engagement from the more comprehensive dual-factor model, which assesses both psychopathology and subjective well-being [SWB]. The current study examined this relationship via an adolescent sample of 611 students in the U.S. Midwest. Results indicated that students with higher levels of engagement experienced lower levels of internalizing or externalizing difficulties, as well as higher levels of SWB. Additionally, linear regressions revealed that as students reported higher school connectedness and academic efficacy, they also reported higher behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement. Internalizing difficulties predicted higher behavioral and cognitive engagement, and personal adjustment predicted lower behavioral and cognitive engagement. Internalizing and externalizing difficulties were not significantly associated with emotional engagement. Overall, results indicate that students’ mental health factors are closely tied to their engagement at school. These findings can be used to support targeted interventions on well-being and psychopathology, which may increase school engagement and overall student happiness.

AI-empowered applications effects on EFL learners’ engagement in the classroom and academic procrastination

BackgroundIn today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, AI-powered applications like ChatGPT, POE, and Duolingo are revolutionizing language education, offering personalized learning experiences in EFL. However, challenges such as student engagement and academic procrastination persist. This study delves into how these AI tools impact EFL learners’ engagement and procrastination tendencies, aiming to inform effective technology integration in language instruction.ObjectivesThe primary goals of this research are to assess the influence of AI-empowered applications on affective, cognitive, and behavioural engagement and academic procrastination among EFL learners. By considering both the affective and cognitive aspects of engagement, the study aims to provide insights into optimizing EFL instruction through AI-driven tools while addressing academic procrastination challenges.MethodologyA quasi-experimental research method was employed, involving ten intact classes comprising 350 students divided into two groups. Engagement and procrastination scales were administered before and after the treatment. T-tests were utilized to analyze the data, comparing pre- and post-treatment scores between the groups.FindingsThe results indicate that the experimental group, exposed to AI-empowered applications, demonstrated significantly higher levels of affective, cognitive, and behavioural engagement than the control group. Keywords: AI-empowered applications, Academic procrastination, engagement, Chinese EFL learners’ engagement. Moreover, a substantial reduction in academic procrastination was observed among students exposed to AI-empowered applications.ConclusionsThe study underscores the potential of AI-empowered applications to enhance learner engagement and mitigate academic procrastination. The findings contribute to the pedagogical discourse surrounding technology integration and advocate adopting learner-centred approaches. The incorporation of AI-empowered applications in diverse educational settings is recommended.

Students' situational engagement profiles in formal and informal science learning environments

AbstractStudent engagement is widely considered to be a multidimensional construct consisting of behavioral, cognitive, and affective components. Recent research has examined student engagement in science learning contexts using holistic approaches that account for multidimensionality through the identification of engagement profiles. However, it is not yet clear whether identified science engagement profiles are consistent across different samples, different learning environments, or different modes of measurement. Using data from three extant datasets involving middle‐ and high‐school aged youth, we explored the consistency of students' situational engagement profiles across science learning environments (formal and informal) and modes of measurement (experience sampling and end‐of‐class reports). Results from latent profile analyses of students' behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement identified four common profiles across the three datasets, though each dataset had its own unique profile solution (ranging from five to seven profiles). Consistent profiles across the three datasets included universally low, moderate, recreational, and full engagement. Three additional engagement profiles were identified (rational, purposeful, and busy engagement), though they emerged inconsistently across the samples. Findings speak to the applicability of conceptual frameworks of engagement to science learning contexts. Results are discussed considering environmental (formal vs. informal learning environments) and methodological considerations (experience sampling vs. end of class report).

Balancing typicality and novelty in ceramic design: A study on consumer aesthetic preferences

This study addresses the challenge of balancing typicality and novelty in ceramic design to optimise consumer aesthetic preferences. The objective is to analyse how these two dimensions—typicality, which provides familiarity, and novelty, which introduces cognitive interest—influence aesthetic appeal using the Unified Model of Aesthetics (UMA) framework. Employing a sample of 120 Chinese participants, the methodology involved evaluating ten ceramic designs on a seven-point Likert scale. Data analysis was conducted using Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), partial correlation, and Generalized Estimation Equations (GEE) to assess the roles of typicality and novelty. Results reveal that while typicality strongly influences aesthetic preference, novelty provides moderate cognitive engagement, aligning with the MAYA (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) principle. Age and gender showed minimal impact on preferences, suggesting design elements as primary determinants of aesthetic appeal. This study underscores the importance of balancing typicality and novelty in ceramic design, offering practical insights for designers to enhance consumer satisfaction through controlled innovative elements.

The effect of psychological engagement on member behavioral engagement in a virtual community in Indonesia

This study aims to analyze the role of psychological engagement, encompassing cognitive, emotional, and physical dimensions, as well as member behavioral engagement, including participation and word of mouth, and its influence on brand loyalty, which includes cognitive, affective, conative, and action loyalty in the National Cooking Club (NCC) in Indonesia. Utilizing a quantitative approach with survey techniques, an online questionnaire was distributed to 500 respondents, yielding 162 valid responses. Data analysis was conducted using multiple linear regression with SPSS version 16. The results indicate that action loyalty does not significantly affect physical engagement, whereas emotional engagement does. Additionally, both emotional and physical engagement significantly influence participation, whereas cognitive engagement does not. Furthermore, emotional engagement has a significant effect on word of mouth, contrary to cognitive and physical engagement, which do not significantly influence word of mouth among NCC members.

Baseline and Rest: A Need for Conceptual Clarity When Measuring Parasympathetic Reactivity and Recovery

ABSTRACTParasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity has widespread research applications but poses measurement challenges due to its high sensitivity to environmental conditions and immediate demands. While standardised methods exist for measuring PNS reactivity and recovery in response to stressors, the selection of appropriate baseline and resting states is often overlooked. This commentary argues that a clearer conceptual distinction between baseline, a research construct for comparing values, and rest, a psychophysiological state of low arousal and cognitive engagement, is crucial for data interpretation. This includes a need for explicitly justifying baseline conditions in relation to research goals and validating rest conditions. By improving the clarity and rigour of baseline and rest, researchers can enhance the interpretability of PNS reactivity and recovery measures, supporting integration of research findings across studies.

The Dreaded Task of Creating “Engaging” Online Lectures

Eliciting and maintaining student engagement in online, asynchronous courses is notoriously difficult. Although advanced technology can address this issue, many faculty members do not have the time or resources to learn how to integrate such technology into the classroom. This teaching brief provides a simple yet effective way for advertising instructors to increase student engagement and perceived interactivity by combining online lectures and associated activities into a single quiz. Examples of activities that could be used based on the online engagement framework for higher education are also presented, including exercises meant to encourage social, collaborative, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive engagement. Through such, this brief helps reinforce that student engagement can still be fostered using basic online tools.

Cognitive engagement as a predictor of learning gain in Python programming

The relationship between cognitive engagement and learning gains in computer programming has not been well-studied. This study examined the relationship between students’ cognitive engagement and learning gains in the context of Python programming. Cognitive engagement, defined by the Interactive, Constructive, Active, Passive (ICAP) framework, refers to the level and depth of mental effort and involvement a learner invests in an educational activity. In this paper, we provide details about how students’ actions were classified into three levels of cognitive engagement. We studied these actions’ frequency and duration differences and performed regression analysis. The results revealed significant student diversity regarding frequency and time allocation to these engagement categories and highlight the complex interplay between students’ cognitive activities and their corresponding time investments. Further, the regression analysis results showed that the constructive and passive levels of engagement were significant predictors of students’ learning gains in the case of Python programming.These findings offer actionable insights into why some students may have lower learning gains. By examining the specific levels of cognitive engagement that lead to better learning outcomes, this study hopes to inform the development of more effective learning environments that support student engagement and improve programming education.

Cognitive engagement may slow clinical progression and brain atrophy in Huntington’s disease

Lifelong cognitive engagement conveys benefits in Huntington's disease (HD) and may positively affect non-cognitive domains in other populations. However, the effect of lifelong cognitive engagement on the progression of motor and psychiatric domains in HD remains unknown, as is its neurobiological basis. Forty-five HD individuals completed the Cognitive Reserve Questionnaire (CRQ) and longitudinal clinical evaluation (maximum total of six visits, mean inter-assessment duration of 13.53 ± 4.1 months). Of these, thirty-three underwent longitudinal neuroimaging (18 ± 6 months follow-up). Generalized linear mixed-effects models were executed to predict the effect of individual differences in lifelong cognitive engagement on HD clinical progression and voxel-based morphometry to explore the impact of lifelong cognitive engagement on whole-brain gray matter volume atrophy. Controlling for age, disease stage, and sex, higher CRQ scores were associated with reduced overall severity and longitudinal progression across cognitive, motor, and psychiatric domains. Those with higher CRQ scores demonstrated reduced gray matter volume loss in the middle frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, and middle cingulate. This putative impact on HD clinical progression may be conferred by preservation of brain volume in neural hubs that integrate executive function with action initiation and behavioral regulation, providing support for early cognitive engagement, even prior to diagnosis.

Anxiety-like behaviors in rats exposed to the single and combined program of running exercise and environmental enrichment.

Exercise (Ex) and environmental enrichment (EE) as the nondrug solutions have positive effects on cognitive behaviors and also increase the ability to cope with anxiety, fear, and stress. In this research, we decided to investigate the simultaneous effect of Ex and EE on anxiety-like behaviors and hippocampal neurogenesis markers in healthy rats. A total of 40 male Wistar rats were divided into four treatment groups: control, EE, Ex, and EE + Ex. Animals in EE groups were housed in large cages (50 × 50 × 50 cm) equipped with toys and objects of different shapes for 3 weeks. Ex-animals were forced to run on a treadmill once a day for 3 consecutive weeks. Open field (OF) and elevated plus maze (EPM) tests were used to evaluate anxiety behaviors. The hippocampal expression of early neurogenesis markers, doublecortin, and sex determining region Y-box 2, were measured using real-time-PCR. Ex and EE animals separately did not show any significant performance in reducing anxiety levels, neither in EPM nor in OF compared with the control group. When animals were treated with EE and Ex simultaneously, they showed significantly reduced anxiety in both EPM and OF tests compared with the control as well as Ex and EE groups separately. Both treatments in combination were also more effective than individual groups in increasing the neurogenesis molecular markers within the hippocampus. This study proposes that Ex in combination with cognitive engagement is more efficient in alleviating anxiety responses and that can develop a nonpharmacological and multidomain policy that may prevent or delay psychophysiological symptoms.

Enhancing Student Engagement and Academic Performance Through Digital Literacy : A Transformative Approach in Canva Application

This study investigates the impact of Canva, a digital literacy tool, on enhancing student engagement and academic performance through the lens of Self-Determination Theory by Johnmarshall Reeve (2012). Using qualitative methods, data were collected from student responses via questionnaires. The findings reveal that Canva positively influences the four dimensions of engagement: behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic. Behavioral engagement is supported through its intuitive tools that promote focus and persistence. Emotional engagement is enhanced by evoking positive emotions and reducing stress. Cognitive engagement is fostered by encouraging critical thinking and creativity, while agentic engagement empowers students to take ownership of their learning processes. Despite challenges such as limited free features, students effectively utilized Canva’s resources to overcome these barriers. The study concludes that Canva offers a transformative approach to education, promoting 21st-century skills and bridging traditional learning with digital literacy. Future improvements could expand free templates, collaborative features, and educational resources, further amplifying its benefits in academic settings.

English Learning Anxiety, Learner Engagement, And Intervention Strategies Among Chinese Undergraduates

This study determined the relationships among English learning anxiety, learner engagement, and intervention strategies to propose a language learning program to improve the teaching quality and learning effect among Chinese undergraduates. The research employed a descriptive quantitative method and selected 477 undergraduates from a Chinese university to participate in an online questionnaire survey. The research conducted a pilot test to ensure reliability. The findings indicated that women were more inclined to participate in the survey and the respondents decreased with higher grades. Liberal arts students had the highest participation due to the higher proportion of female students in liberal arts, science, and engineering. The results showed a positive and supportive attitude towards English learning anxiety, learner engagement, and intervention strategies among Chinese EFL undergraduates. Regarding English learning anxiety, it is found that anxiety in communication is higher than anxiety in the negative evaluation and English classroom, which implies that the language learner has anxiety in English learning, especially in communication. Cognitive and emotional engagement are more important than behavioral engagement. The findings suggest that cognitive and emotional engagement promotes English learning effectiveness far beyond behavioral engagement. Concerning intervention strategies, respondents considered classroom intervention to be more important than behavioral intervention and cognitive intervention. It was found that the higher the English learning anxiety, the lower the learning engagement; the higher the English learning anxiety, the higher the intervention strategies; and the higher the learner engagement, the lower the intervention strategies. Therefore, the study offered recommendations to various stakeholders. This includes policymakers, curriculum designers, college language teachers and learners. A language learning program has been proposed to strengthen language teaching and learning among Chinese undergraduates.

Exploring EFL learners’ engagement and draft quality in a multi-stage expository writing task using model texts as a feedback facilitator: A mixed-methods study

To enhance EFL learners’ engagement and writing, model texts as a feedback instrument (MTFI) have been used for the past two decades. This approach includes three primary stages: i) initial written output, ii) comparison of the output and model texts, and iii) rewriting of original drafts. However, the multidimensional nature of learners’ engagement and its relationship with text quality remain underexplored, particularly in expository writing. This study addresses these gaps by examining how learners engaged with MTFI emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally, and how this engagement correlates with text quality. Sixty-eight Vietnamese EFL undergraduates were divided into a control group (CG, N = 33) and an experimental group (EG, N = 35). The EG participated in all three stages, while the CG did not partake in stage two. Data included note-taking sheets, written texts, follow-up questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. Results showed that learners had a favorable attitude towards MTFI and displayed higher levels of cognitive and behavioral engagement with content-related and organizational features compared to lexical and grammatical aspects. Moreover, although both groups exhibited similar quality in the first drafts, the EG outperformed the CG in the rewritten compositions. Additionally, model-text awareness, a dimension of cognitive engagement, was moderately associated with learners’ overall text quality.

Influence of Social Media in Shaping the Adolescents’ Political Awareness, Participation, and Activism

The emergence of social media has immensely influenced how the younger generations participate and interact in the discussion of the different societal and governmental issues. Thus, it is imperative to formulate information-media literacy and digital citizenship guidelines that may help promote healthy and safe political engagements and participation in the virtual space. In this study, the impacts of social media to the adolescents’ political awareness, participation, and activism were assessed and analyzed. Using the descriptive-correlational-comparative design, 523 senior high school students, aged 17-19 years old, were asked to answer the 50-item researcher-made questionnaire, Social Media Use, Political Participation, Awareness, and Activism (SMPPAA) Survey. The data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, t-test, and ANOVA. The results revealed that the adolescents often use social media as a tool for presenting their political interests and to a great extent had relied on online information to get updates on political issues. The adolescents’ political participation, awareness, and activism did not significantly differ with respect to their age, sex, religious affiliation. There was differing level of political awareness among the adolescents as regards their socio-economic status. Moreover, the results affirmed the ideas propounded in the Cognitive Engagement Theory and Interest-Driven Theory regarding the influence of social media usage and reliance to online information with the development of the adolescents’ political awareness, participation, and activism.

The Impact of Augmented Reality Through User-Platform Interactions Towards Continuance Intention with the Effect of User Generation

When users interact with mobile platforms in an Augmented Reality (AR) environment, cognitive and emotional engagements change through different stimuli cues that respond to users’ behavioral intentions. Although AR engages more interactions in mobile platforms, there is a significant gap in assessing UX, considering the physical distance between users and virtual products in a mobile platform. Considering the effect of user generation, the impacts of perceived engagements toward continuance intention through user-platform interactions are unexplored. This study investigated a nuanced understanding of how stimuli cues in augmented reality affect sense of immersion and sense of presence, followed by an Interaction-Engagement-Intention (I-E-I) model. A quantitative method was used to validate the proposed model. Based on an online survey with 886 responses, product fit, network quality, and Artificial Intelligence-driven Recommendation (AIR) influences were assessed for cognitive engagements. This study examined the importance of engaging satisfaction and trust as emotional engagements, influencing users’ continuance intention. The findings showed that sense of presence has a more significant influence on building trust and satisfaction. Also, trust has a more significant impact on the continuance intention to use AR mobile platforms. This study also explored the positive effects of user generation on continuance intention. This could enhance the capabilities of information system designers, researchers, marketing professionals, and solution providers to attain sustainable user retention.

Cognitive engagement and reading comprehension of French pupils aged between 9- and 11-Years old are influenced by task relevance: evidence from concurrent recordings of postural and eye movements

AbstractThe relevance effect refers to the influence that instructions have on readers’ attention and learning. The present study examined whether relevance influences elementary school students’ reading comprehension and cognitive engagement. To measure the latter, eye movements and postural sway were recorded in 42 French speaking students aged 9.3–11.6 years. Eye movements were recorded with infrared-based eye-tracking glasses, and postural sway with an infrared-based motion capture system. Children read two texts, one task-relevant and one task-irrelevant, and answered surface and inference questions right after reading it. Results showed that children scored better on surface and inference questions about the relevant text than about the irrelevant one. As for eye movements, readers made more fixations on the relevant text and spent more time reading it. There was also less postural sway during the reading of the relevant text. These results indicate that cognitive engagement during reading is embodied in fourth- and fifth-grade students, with postural stability probably reflecting cognitive engagement and promoting the construction of meaning during reading tasks.

The Relationship Between Representative Commitment and Job Burnout Among It Workers in Tamil Nadu

Objectives: Engagement of employee is a key component to get a maximum determined result in an organisation. Every organisation in this era puts efforts to keep their employees active. Engagement models explain about the theoretical framework and implementation strategy of employee engagement in an organisation. Methods: The study analysed the significant difference in the determinants of employee engagement, Job engagement, Organisational engagement, Job burnout and Psychological well-being based on demographic variables using ANOVA and independent sample t test. Findings: the researcher points out the general outline of the real findings acquired during the study. The findings exhibited and discussed clearly based on analysis of the determinants of Employee engagement and its consequences over Job burnout and Psychological well-being among IT employees in Tamil Nadu. All findings towards the study, derived from the analysis of information and from the elucidation drawn out from the Data analysis. So the section exclusively explains the summary of findings. Conclusions: The study also concluded that information technology employees strongly accept their cognitive engagement about the organisation. Since they are cognitive in organizational engagement, they can be used to actively participate in creative teams to make new ideas, perceptions, decision making etc. Personal efficacy concludes that the employees are highly confident with their own performance attainments and low level of emotional exhaustion and cynicism concludes that employees are with less intention on Job burnout..

Neurologic dance training and home exercise improve motor-cognitive dual-task function similarly, but through potentially different mechanisms, among breast cancer survivors with chemotherapy-induced neuropathy: Initial results of a randomized, controlled clinical trial.

Dual-task function is compromised among individuals with prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD) and others at risk of developing AD. While exercise has been studied as a therapeutic candidate, the activity of social dance might promote dual-task rehabilitation as well or better than conventional exercise. Compare effects of social dance versus home exercise on dual-task function and intervention adherence among individuals with increased risk of developing AD: survivors of breast cancer (BC) with chemotherapy-induced neuropathy (CIN). Fifty-two (n = 52) survivors of BC with CIN-related symptoms and functional deficits were randomized (1:1) to 8 weeks of biweekly physical activity that took the form of partnered AdapTango dance (20 min) or home exercise (45 min) (NCT05114005, registered 08/15/2021). Primary outcome: dual-task function (TUG-Cog counting backward by 3 s). Secondary outcome: adherence. Exploratory outcomes: participant rating of perceived exertion in physical versus cognitive domains and cognitive load during dual-task performance. Both interventions improved Timed-Up-and-Go with cognitive task (TUGCog) after 4 weeks (p < 0.001); gains were maintained at 8 weeks of intervention (p < 0.001) and 1 month follow-up (p < 0.001). The dance intervention met adherence feasibility criteria for 8 weeks; exercise met criteria for 4 weeks. The ratio of cognitive to physical exertion was higher for dance (1 to 1) than exercise (0.8 to 1.0; p < 0.001). Dance, only, was associated with reduced cognitive load (p = 0.02). Among survivors of BC with CIN, small doses of social dance improved dual-task function comparably to larger doses of home exercise, possibly due to differences in cognitive engagement.

Students’ need satisfaction: Relationship with psychological and cognitive engagement

Students’ need satisfaction: Relationship with psychological and cognitive engagement

The Implications of Digital Culture for Contemporary Literature: Navigating New Narratives, Forms, and Reader Engagement in the Digital Age

This research examines the impact of digital culture on contemporary literature, particularly focusing on narrative structures, reader engagement, and comprehension in digital formats. As digital media continue to reshape how literature is consumed, this study explores the effects of interactive and multimedia-rich digital texts on reader behavior and cognitive engagement. Using a quantitative approach, the research combined surveys with 500 participants and content analysis of 20 digital texts, including hypertext fiction and multimedia narratives. Descriptive statistics revealed that participants spent 32% more time engaging with interactive formats than traditional digital texts, with younger readers showing higher engagement levels. The analysis also found a significant positive correlation (r = 0.45, p &lt; 0.05) between digital media familiarity and preference for interactive narratives. However, comprehension scores varied, with some readers finding it difficult to follow non-linear, branching storylines. Content analysis showed that 75% of the selected digital texts contained multimedia elements, while 65% included hyperlinks, reflecting the prevalence of these features in contemporary digital literature. The results support the hypothesis that interactive formats enhance engagement, but suggest challenges in comprehension, especially with complex, non-linear narratives. This study provides key insights for authors, publishers, and educators on the evolving landscape of digital literature and reader interaction. It highlights the need for more research on the long-term effects of digital reading on comprehension and cognitive development, as well as a deeper comparison between digital and traditional reading experiences.