Reality and Cognitive Conflict: Evidence from a Study on Conceptual Inhibition in High School Students
Parole chiave:
Augmented reality; Cognitive conflict; Conceptual learning; Inhibitory control; Secondary education; Neuroanatomy learningAbstract
The study investigates the influence of Augmented Reality (AR) on cognitive conflict between perceptual and conceptual representations in a sample of 72 upper secondary school students. The experimental group used the Merge Cube to explore the brain’s anatomical structures in 3D, while the control group attended a traditional lesson with printed materials. Both groups completed a multiple-choice test designed to elicit semantic-perceptual conflict, presenting intuitively plausible but conceptually incorrect alternatives alongside the correct answer. Selecting the right option required inhibiting the automatic tendency to favor the most salient choice and accessing a more abstract conceptual representation consistent with the scientific rule. The results, in line with conflict monitoring models (Botvinick et al., 2001; Egner & Hirsch, 2005), suggest that the use of AR can enhance inhibitory control and the resolution of cognitive conflict, supporting the role of prefrontal areas in the selection of competing representations (Krawczyk, 2012).
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Copyright (c) 2026 Margot Zanetti, Stefania Morsanuto, Luna Lembo, Francesco Peluso Cassese
Questo lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 4.0 Internazionale.
