Attention is drawn in the present study to atypical patterns of contextuali
sed learning engagement that are often difficult to interpret because, at f
ace value, they exhibit varying degrees of conceptual dissonance. Against a
summary of the practical and methodological problems associated with resea
rching the phenomenon of 'dissonance', a review is presented of how it may
manifest itself in differing contexts, and with what implied or observed as
sociated effects. The empirical question of how 'dissonance' may be interpr
eted and modelled is addressed and it is argued that, in general, the pheno
menon cart be naturally accommodated within an interference observed model
of student learning by virtue of violations of defined 'conceptual boundari
es within the model at an individual, or subgroup, response level. An examp
le of an observed interference model of student learning in the form of a c
ommon factor model is introduced and is then further used to illustrate how
such conceptual violations may occur in practice.