Nanyu Zhang¹, Rebekah Che¹, Xiaorui Xue¹, Ido Davidesco¹; ¹Boston College

Prior research suggests that seating location influences academic engagement, but most evidence focuses on front-to-back distance and relies on subjective self-reports. This study examines whether central versus peripheral classroom positioning is associated with differences in mind-wandering (MW) frequency and gaze behavior. We hypothesized that students in peripheral seats would show reduced visual attention to instructional areas of interest (AOIs) and higher rates of self-reported MW, potentially because these seats expose students to more visual distractions, such as peers and devices. Wearable eye-tracking glasses (Pupil Labs Neon) were used to collect data in a college classroom from 15 undergraduates across six class sessions. Each participant wore eye-tracking glasses during two sessions. Students were prompted 6-8 times throughout class to report via an online survey whether they were mind-wandering immediately before the probe. Eye-tracking data from the 1-minute window preceding each probe were coded for specific AOIs, categorized as Instructional (slides, instructor, note-taking) or Non-instructional (other students, others' devices, etc.). Descriptively, students in center seats (n=7) spent a greater proportion of time looking at instructional AOIs (M=61.8%, SD=0.095) than students in peripheral seats (n=8, M=48.4%, SD=0.276). Self-reported MW showed a similar directional pattern, with students in the periphery reporting somewhat higher average MW (M=25.2%, SD=0.270) than center-seated students (M=20.4%, SD=0.184). The peripheral group also showed greater variability in both instructional gaze and MW frequency. These preliminary findings suggest an association between seating location and gaze-based measures of classroom attention, while also indicating substantial heterogeneity among students in peripheral seats. Ongoing data collection will expand the sample and allow us to test whether these patterns replicate and to examine possible mechanisms underlying seating-related differences in classroom attention.

Acknowledgements: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number 2526250.