Instructional modality influences neurocognitive engagement during moral learning

AI-mediated learning environments demand more subtle comprehension of how instructional modalities impact not only learning outcomes, but cognitive and affective processes supporting them. Moral education is a common denominator of integral development, yet we do not know how neurocognitive engagement varies with new versus old media. This experiment compared moral learning conveyed by a GPT-mediated social robot (Picoh) with that through traditional text-based reading, with an Indian philosophical fable. Fifty students were randomly assigned to a modality and completed a comprehension quiz while their neural activity was recorded with Electroencephalography (EEG). Two indices were compared: frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), an affective-motivational engagement index, and gamma coherence, a cognitive integration index. No group differences were found in quiz performance or EEG measures. However, in the robot group, FAA showed a negative trend with comprehension, which may point toward a potential link between comprehension and left-frontal activation (approach motivation). These findings illustrate that neurophysiological measures can disentangle subtle, individual-level engagement effects undetectable to behavioral outcomes alone. More broadly, the findings explored the value of combining EEG with behavioral data in revealing mechanistic comprehension of how instructional modalities impact learning.