#1162: The Impact of Anthropomorphic Digital Human Teachers on Learners’ Cognitive Engagement in Online Learning: An Eye-Tracking Study

This study investigated how digital human teachers with different levels of anthropomorphism affect learners’ cognitive engagement in online learning. Seventeen university students participated in an eye-tracking experiment using a Tobii Pro eye tracker. Three teaching conditions were compared: real teacher, high-anthropomorphism digital teacher, and low-anthropomorphism digital teacher.Results from one-way repeated-measures ANOVA showed significant effects of teacher type on fixation duration (F(2,32)=18.59, p<.001) and fixation count (F(2,32)=30.95, p<.001) within the teacher area. Learners showed higher attention and deeper cognitive processing when viewing the real or high-anthropomorphism teacher than the low-anthropomorphism one. Only a slight difference was found in slide attention ratio (F=3.84, p=.028).These findings suggest that higher anthropomorphism enhances learners’ visual attention and cognitive engagement by increasing social presence and realism, providing practical insights for AI-based instructional design.