Figure 8. Enjoyment by cognitive ability and content (error bars = se)
The previous analyses of the eye tracking data inform how application complexity and cognitive ability affect how children engaged with the educational content on a tablet computer but do not necessarily provide information on how the engagement is experienced by children. To this end, a 2 (complexity: simple, complex) x 2 (cognitive ability: low EF, high EF) ANOVA was performed on children’s self-report of engagement. A significant Complexity X Cognitive Ability interaction indicates that low EF children enjoy the simple applications more than the complex applications whereas high EF children have no preference, F(1, 22) = 5.994, MSE = 717.133, p = .023 (see Figure 8). This suggests that low EF children enjoy applications that are in line their cognitive ability.