Use of Mouse-tracking Method to Measure Cognitive Load

摘要

Integrated with computerized education platforms, the mouse-tracking technique could provide aninexpensive and less intrusive tool for assessing cognitive load. The present study examined whether mousetrackingcan quantify changes in cognitive load. Participants performed a dual-task, which required them toperform primary tasks of moving a computer mouse cursor along the vertical and the horizontal axes to atarget, and secondary arithmetic tasks designed to impose different levels of cognitive load. Analyses of themouse-tracking data indicated that slower mean response time and less trajectory deviation were observedwhen participants were given secondary tasks imposing a greater cognitive load, whereas slower meanresponse time and greater trajectory deviation were observed when participants moved a cursor toward asmaller-sized target. The cause behind the quantitative difference between the cognitive load effect, and themotor task difficulty (target size) is discussed, as are implications of these results for computerized educationplatforms.