Problem context affects pupil response, reflecting changes in cognitive engagement.

Gender and context together influence emotional response during problem solving.

Men show stronger emotional response to no-context than to humanistic problems.

Cognitive interest rises in solving stage, shifting from emotional to mental effort.

Emotional interest during reading predicts accuracy, unlike mental effort in solving.

This study investigates the psychophysiological effects of contextualized physics problems during the problem's solving stage, expanding upon earlier findings (Bouhdana et al., 2023) on the problem's reading stage.

Participants (university students, both men and women) solved problems presented in three contexts – no context, technical, and humanistic – while measures of cognitive (pupillometry, EEG) and affective (electrodermal activity, valence) situational interest were collected.

Key findings revealed that context significantly influenced pupillometry (p = 0.035) and the context*gender interaction significantly affected valence (p = 0.037), though post-hoc comparisons were not significant. Men exhibited higher emotional valence when solving decontextualized problems compared to humanistic problems, aligning with trends observed during the reading stage, though significance was not maintained in the solving stage (p = 0.096). Notably, cognitive situational interest, as indicated by pupillometry, increased during the solving stage, suggesting a shift from affective to cognitive engagement. However, cognitive situational interest during the solving stage did not predict accuracy, contrasting with our prior findings where affective situational interest (electrodermal activity) during reading significantly predicted accuracy.

This shift may stem from the higher cognitive load associated with problem-solving tasks. These findings suggest that cognitive situational interest during the solving stage is a reflection of cognitive load rather than a predictor of success, while underscoring the importance of fostering affective situational interest during the reading stage to enhance performance and engagement. Future research should explore longitudinal effects, cultural influences on situational interest, and inclusive curriculum design.

Our results highlight the need for balanced and context-sensitive approaches to curriculum development to optimize student motivation, performance, and long-term interest in physics.

Contextualized physics problems

Situational interest

Pupillometry

Cognitive engagement

Problem-solving

© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH.