Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn)
Vol 20, No 3: August 2026

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

Hansol Lee (Korea National University of Education)
Daecheol Park (Korea National University of Education)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Aug 2026

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.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

EduLearn

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Education Library & Information Science Social Sciences Other

Description

Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn) ISSN: 2089-9823, e-ISSN 2302-9277 is a multi-disciplinary, peer-refereed open-access international journal which has been established for the dissemination of state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of education, teaching, development, instruction, ...