EEG analysis of elementary students during paper-based and tablet-based learning and assessment

Abstract

This study investigated elementary students’ cognitive responses to different learning and assessment media using electroencephalography (EEG). In a repeated-measures EEG experiment, 20 elementary students experienced four conditions combining paper and tablet media. While the learning medium itself showed no significant effect on cognitive states, the assessment phase revealed a clear congruency effect. Specifically, the paper-learning-to-paper-assessment condition produced significantly higher concentration and brain activity compared to the incongruent paper-learning-to-tablet-assessment condition. These findings provide physiological validation for the encoding specificity theory and redirect attention from media comparison to contextual alignment. For classroom practice, this highlights the need to align learning and assessment media to help students maintain focus and perform effectively, particularly in increasingly digital learning environments.