Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42694103›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026

AI avatars in education: effects on knowledge acquisition, academic motivation, and cognitive load.

Elaheh Bakhtiari, Rossella Suriano, Giorgio Mario Grasso

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Elaheh BakhtiariNISC Lab, Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
Rossella SurianoNISC Lab, Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
Giorgio Mario GrassoNISC Lab, Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

As digital learning environments increasingly incorporate artificial intelligence, empirical evidence regarding the educational effectiveness of AI-powered digital avatars remains limited and methodologically heterogeneous. This randomized matched-pair study examined whether learning with a human-like AI-avatar instructional system implemented in Unity 3D with Convai and OpenAI GPT-4o for real-time verbal interaction improves knowledge acquisition, academic motivation, and perceived cognitive load compared with autonomous internet-based learning. Forty-eight university students were included in the final analytic sample and were balanced across instructional condition and gender (AI-avatar:

Indexed as

AI avatarscognitive loaddigital learningknowledge acquisitionmotivation

Identifiers

PMID42694103
PMCPMC13538100

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.