Exploring the cognitive and neural impact of a role-based system on students’ cognitive load during a virtual laboratory activity: An EEG study

Hands-on laboratories are crucial for developing practical and collaborative skills—such as teamwork—among University students. Yet, these environments are resource-intensive and limit the range and frequency of experiments. Virtual and remote laboratories have therefore emerged as viable alternatives, though the question of how to effectively promote collaboration in these distant settings remains unresolved. Collaboration scripts that assign roles to learners represent a promising solution, but their neurocognitive effects have not been examined. This study addresses this gap by investigating how the role-switching mechanism in virtual laboratories influences students’ cognitive load and group performance. A within-subject design was used in which dyads of STEM students solved problems under two conditions: (i) automatic role assignment and (ii) manual, user-defined role assignment based on students’ own preferences. Cognitive load was continuously measured using electroencephalography (EEG), while group performance, behavioural indicators, and self-reported measures were collected through problem logs and questionnaires. The results reveal a marginally significant increase in average cognitive load when students selected their own role. A significant correlation was also found between cognitive loads across conditions, as well as an inverse relationship between cognitive load and the proportion of time spent in a given role. Overall, these findings contribute to the design of adaptive collaborative learning environments. Such insights can guide the development of role-scaffolding mechanisms that align with learner characteristics while preventing cognitive overload.