Higher Cognitive Effort Research Articles

Semantic inhibition impairment in college students with depressive states as evidenced by EEG and pupillometry during the hayling task

In this study we tested whether depression is associated with impaired semantic inhibition, resulting in symptoms of rumination and anhedonia. For this purpose and using the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) college students with depressive states (DEP) and matched controls (CTL) performed a Hayling’s task, while EEG and pupillometry measures were recorded. Participants were asked to complete sentential contexts with either a highly associated word (initiation) or a non-related word (inhibition), in response to randomly presented trial-by-trial cues. The DEP group, compared to the CTL group, showed lower performance, and reduced frontal negativity (N450) in inhibition trials. Source analyses revealed greater activation for inhibition trials than for initiation trials in bilateral orbitofrontal cortex for the CTL group, but the difference was reduced and more left lateralized for the DEP group. In addition, the DEP group showed more pupil size reactivity to inhibition trials than the CTL group, indicating higher cognitive effort during semantic inhibition. Finally, self-reported rumination and anhedonia correlated with N450 in inhibition trials, and rumination correlated with pupil dilation. Overall, this research contributes to understanding the neural underpinnings of impaired semantic inhibition in individuals with depression, with potential clinical applications.

High Cognitive Effort Prior to Velocity-Based Training Sessions Reduces Rate of Force Development but Not Maximum Strength Gains in Untrained Male Adults.

This study aimed to analyze the chronic effect of high cognitive effort immediately before resistance exercise sessions on neuromuscular performance in untrained male adults. We used a mixed experimental design, with the group as between-participants factor and time as within-participants factor. Thirty-four participants were randomly assigned to two parallel groups: high cognitive effort (n = 17) and control (n = 17). Subjects in the control group were seated for 30 min before the resistance exercise sessions, while the high cognitive effort group completed incongruent trials of the Stroop task until subjective mental fatigue was present immediately before resistance exercise sessions. Participants attended 45 sessions over 15 weeks, consisting of three familiarizations, three baseline evaluations, 36 velocity-based training sessions, and three postexperiment evaluation sessions. Rate of force development (RFD) during the isometric mid-thigh pull, half back-squat 1-RM, and countermovement jump (CMJ) were measured before and after the 12-week intervention. A significant group × time interaction effect was found for the average RFD at 0-250 ms (p < 0.05), with greater improvements for the control group than for the high cognitive effort group. There was no group × time interaction for half back-squat 1-RM (p > 0.05). Also, there was no group × time interaction for CMJ (p > 0.05). In conclusion, repeated high cognitive effort immediately prior to resistance exercise sessions is a phenomenon that can induce greater early velocity loss and, consequently, impairs the improvements in RFD. However, this did not inhibit the increased performance for explosive strength and CMJ in male untrained adults. High cognitive effort before resistance exercise sessions should be avoided.

Measuring cognitive effort using tabular transformer-based language models of electronic health record-based audit log action sequences.

To develop and validate a novel measure, action entropy, for assessing the cognitive effort associated with electronic health record (EHR)-based work activities. EHR-based audit logs of attending physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) from four surgical intensive care units in 2019 were included. Neural language models (LMs) were trained and validated separately for attendings' and APPs' action sequences. Action entropy was calculated as the cross-entropy associated with the predicted probability of the next action, based on prior actions. To validate the measure, a matched pairs study was conducted to assess the difference in action entropy during known high cognitive effort scenarios, namely, attention switching between patients and to or from the EHR inbox. Sixty-five clinicians performing 5904429 EHR-based audit log actions on 8956 unique patients were included. All attention switching scenarios were associated with a higher action entropy compared to non-switching scenarios (P < .001), except for the from-inbox switching scenario among APPs. The highest difference among attendings was for the from-inbox attention switching: Action entropy was 1.288 (95% CI, 1.256-1.320) standard deviations (SDs) higher for switching compared to non-switching scenarios. For APPs, the highest difference was for the to-inbox switching, where action entropy was 2.354 (95% CI, 2.311-2.397) SDs higher for switching compared to non-switching scenarios. We developed a LM-based metric, action entropy, for assessing cognitive burden associated with EHR-based actions. The metric showed discriminant validity and statistical significance when evaluated against known situations of high cognitive effort (ie, attention switching). With additional validation, this metric can potentially be used as a screening tool for assessing behavioral action phenotypes that are associated with higher cognitive burden. An LM-based action entropy metric-relying on sequences of EHR actions-offers opportunities for assessing cognitive effort in EHR-based workflows.

Effects of Grammatical Gender on Gender Inferences: Experimental Evidence From Italian Common Gender Nouns

Recent psycholinguistic research has focused on how different grammatical gender marking strategies affect people's mental representation of referents’ gender. Such works particularly explored how explicitly encoded linguistic elements, such as grammatical gender markers, may drive the inferential process as attentional clues. Results of reading comprehension tasks in French and German have shown that the explicit encoding of masculine gender in plural forms of role nouns often leads to a male bias, a specific masculine inference corresponding to the grammatical gender clue, even when the masculine form was intended as generic, thus including women and men. Moreover, comparing generic masculine forms with gender-fair alternatives revealed that the latter significantly reduce this male bias. The present study examines the impact of three gender marking strategies on the construction of generic mental representations. Indeed, the experiment tested generic masculine against two gender-fair forms (split masculine/feminine forms and ambiguous syntactic reformulations) among 38 Italian speakers. No significant effect was found in generating a generic mental representation through form manipulation. However, ambiguous syntactic reformulation realised by presenting target nouns from the Italian common gender noun class and through the neutralisation of determiners’ gender, increased the probability of a male-specific inference. Additionally, a keen interest in gender-fair language topics was linked to longer reaction times, indicating a higher cognitive effort during the inference process.

Design of an Assisted Driving System for Obstacle Avoidance Based on Reinforcement Learning Applied to Electrified Wheelchairs

Driving a motorized wheelchair is not without risk and requires high cognitive effort to obtain good environmental perception. Therefore, people with severe disabilities are at risk, potentially lowering their social engagement, and thus, affecting their overall well-being. Therefore, we designed a cooperative driving system for obstacle avoidance based on a trained reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm. The system takes the desired direction and speed from the user via a joystick and the obstacle distribution from a LiDAR placed in front of the wheelchair. Considering both inputs, the system outputs a pair of forward and rotational speeds that ensure obstacle avoidance while being as close as possible to the user commands. We validated it through simulations and compared it with a vector field histogram (VFH). The preliminary results show that the RL algorithm does not disruptively alter the user intention, reduces the number of collisions, and provides better door passages than a VFH; furthermore, it can be integrated on an embedded device. However, it still suffers from higher jerkiness.

Metacognitive Strategy Training Improves Decision-Making Abilities in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is associated with deficits in decision-making, which is of utmost importance for daily functioning. Despite evidence of declined decision-making abilities, research on decision-making interventions for MCI is scarce. As metacognition seems to play an important role in decision-making, the present study's aim was to examine whether a metacognitive strategy training can improve MCI patients' decision-making abilities. Older adults-patients of a day care center, diagnosed with amnestic MCI (n = 55) were randomly allocated in two groups, which were matched in gender, age and educational level. Τhe experimental group (n = 27, 18 women, mean age = 70.63, mean years of education = 13.44) received the metacognitive strategy training in parallel with the cognitive and physical training programs of the day care center, and the active control group (n = 28, 21 women, mean age = 70.86, mean years of education = 13.71) received only the cognitive and physical training of the center. The metacognitive strategy training included three online meeting sessions that took place once per week. The basis of the intervention was using analytical thinking, by answering four metacognitive-strategic questions, to make decisions about everyday situations. To examine the efficacy of the training, the ability to make decisions about everyday decision-making situations and the ability to apply decision rules were measured. Both groups participated in a pre-test session and a post-test session, while the experimental group also participated in a follow-up session, one month after the post-test session. The results showed that the experimental group improved its ability to decide, based on analytical thinking, about economic and healthcare-related everyday decision-making situations after they received the metacognitive strategy training. This improvement was maintained one month later. However, the ability to apply decision rules, which requires high cognitive effort, did not improve. In conclusion, it is important that some aspects of the analytical decision-making ability of amnestic MCI patients were improved due to the present metacognitive intervention.

The role of effort type and intensity in children's decisions about effort‐based outcomes

AbstractDespite the importance of persistence in early learning, we know little about how children reason about outcomes that result from their efforts. Here we examined the role of effort type (i.e., physical vs. cognitive) and intensity (i.e., high vs. low effort) in shaping children's decision making about effort‐based rewards. Five‐ to 7‐year‐olds (N = 133) were assigned to one of four conditions (High Physical Effort, Low Physical Effort, High Cognitive Effort, Low Cognitive Effort) and completed a series of tasks to construct a toy. Tasks varied in the type (physical/cognitive) and intensity (high/low) of effort required to complete them. After constructing their toy, children completed a series of tasks to probe how much they valued that toy. Across conditions, children preferred their toy and gave it a higher monetary value, relative to a stranger's. However, when choosing their toy came at a cost, children no longer preferred it. Only children who built their toy through either cognitive or low effort were willing to incur a cost for their toy. Older children, across conditions, were also more likely to incur a cost for their toy. These findings demonstrate that by age five, children are sensitive to variations in effort type and intensity, and these factors shape how they evaluate effort‐based rewards.

Understanding the role of cognitive effort within contextual interference paradigms: Theory, measurement, and tutorial

BACKGROUND:“Contextual interference” (CI) describes a counterintuitive phenomenon related to practice organization when learning multiple tasks that are presented in a non-repetitive order. In CI, the lack of repetitiveness introduces a high level of interference within the learning context such that task performance during initial skill acquisition is frequently poorer than if tasks are practiced in a repetitive fashion. However, these learners often perform better on retention and transfer tasks than individuals who learn within a low CI environment. AIM:We provide a tutorial on several novel ways in which researchers can investigate brain activity in a CI paradigm using functional near-infrared spectroscopy: Relative neural efficiency (RNE), relative neural involvement (RNI), and laterality index (LI). METHOD:RNE integrates measures of cognitive effort and behavioral performance; in high CI learning environments, RNE should initially be poor (high cognitive effort, low behavioral performance), then improve during retention and transfer. RNI provides an index of the relationship among motivation, mental effort, and performance. Finally, LI allows for the exploration of lateralization between the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex. RESULTS:Significant differences were found for total hemoglobin, RNE and LI for the right and left prefrontal cortex regions. The differences were accompanied by moderate-to-large effect size with random using less effort, better performance and was more oriented to goal orientation and learning processes than blocked who focused more on visuomotor attentional components and used more effort with lower behavioral performance scores. CONCLUSION:RNE, RNI, and LI provide innovative methods to better understand cognitive effort within CI paradigms.

The Effect of an Instructional Intervention Based on the Use of Video-Worked Examples to Promote Elementary Students’ Science Process Skills

Several reforms in national and international curricula have been implemented to introduce inquiry-based activities to promote different science process skills. Science skills require high cognitive effort for students and, thus, they need supports to develop them in an inquiry process. Among these supports, video-worked examples demonstrate how to perform these skills and provide students with a scheme for an inquiry activity. Recently, video-examples has been explored in primary and secondary education with promising results. However, to gain a broader perspective on their effectiveness, this article aims to evaluate the consistent improvement of each science skill from a comparison with a control group carrying out two consecutive classroom interventions. This research included 44 students in fifth and sixth grades and a quasi-experimental research design with a quantitative method has been applied. In the experimental group, video examples had a positive influence on the participants’ inquiry behavior. For most of the science skills, students showed a consistent improvement in both the first and second inquiries supported by these videos. However, the control group showed less predictable outcomes, as some skills improved only during the first or the second intervention, but not throughout the whole study.

Framing Algorithm-Driven Development of Sets of Objectives Using Elementary Interactions

Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is an established methodology to support the decision-making of multi-objective problems. For conducting an MCDA, in most cases, a set of objectives (SOO) is required, which consists of a hierarchical structure comprised of objectives, criteria, and indicators. The development of an SOO is usually based on moderated development processes requiring high organizational and cognitive effort from all stakeholders involved. This article proposes elementary interactions as a key paradigm of an algorithm-driven development process for an SOO that requires little moderation efforts. Elementary interactions are self-contained information requests that may be answered with little cognitive effort. The pairwise comparison of elements in the well-known analytical hierarchical process (AHP) is an example of an elementary interaction. Each elementary interaction in the development process presented contributes to the stepwise development of an SOO. Based on the hypothesis that an SOO may be developed exclusively using elementary interactions (EIs), a concept for a multi-user platform is proposed. Essential components of the platform are a Model Aggregator, an Elementary Interaction Stream Generator, a Participant Manager, and a Discussion Forum. While the latter component serves the professional exchange of the participants, the first three components are intended to be automatable by algorithms. The platform concept proposed has been evaluated partly in an explorative validation study demonstrating the general functionality of the algorithms outlined. In summary, the platform concept suggested demonstrates the potential to ease SOO development processes as the platform concept does not restrict the application domain; it is intended to work with little administration moderation efforts, and it supports the further development of an existing SOO in the event of changes in external conditions. The algorithm-driven development of SOOs proposed in this article may ease the development of MCDA applications and, thus, may have a positive effect on the spread of MCDA applications.

Relationship between oral narrative and vocabulary skills among bilingual language-minority children and their monolingual peers in primary school

Aim: This study investigates whether the conditions of bilingual language-minority (BLM) children versus monolingualism have different effects on oral narrative and vocabulary skills in the societal language (SL-Italian) and on the predictive interrelations between the two skills. Methodology: A total of 112 primary school children (44 % BLM L1-Chinese, L2-Italian and 56 % Italian monolinguals) aged 7–11 years ( M age = 113 months, SD = 12.03; 44 girls, 68 boys) performed an oral story-narration task and a vocabulary task. The purpose of the former was to assess the children’s textual (structure, coherence) and language (cohesion, word productivity) competences, while the latter test assessed their ability to define written words by implementing different cognitive-linguistic processes. A parental questionnaire was used to obtain information regarding age, socioeconomic status (SES), and home language exposure. Data analysis: We compared BLM and monolinguals’ lexical competence and oral narrative ability in an independent t-test analysis. We further verified the relationship between the lexical and oral narrative abilities in Spearman bivariate correlations analyses and investigated their interrelations in a stepwise regression model. Age and SES were controlled for. Findings: BLM children fall significantly behind their monolingual peers on textual structure and lexical skills. Meanwhile, their textual and language competences in stories are similar. In the total sample and monolingual group, lexical skills are positively correlated with the text structure. Results of stepwise regression analyses show that lexical skills completely mediate the effect of BLM versus monolingualism on text structure. Originality: Results on school-aged BLM (L1-Chinese, L2-Italian) children’s oral narrative, vocabulary skills, and their relations extend previous research on bilingualism. Significance: The scarce narrative structure in BLM children’s stories is related to limited vocabulary input. High-level textual processing difficulties may result from the high cognitive effort of managing both the choosing of adequate words in L2 and composing an oral story concurrently.

The difficulties of context: An exploratory study of learning transfer from a business simulation game

AbstractStudies show that learning is situated—or that learning in one context does not easily transfer to a new context. Because business simulations are often used to provide a learning context, we wondered if this context‐specific learning would transfer. To explore this issue, we used situated learning theory to ask undergraduate students in an operations management class to apply their learning in both familiar, simulation contexts, and unfamiliar, nonsimulation contexts. Using contextually based exam questions, we empirically measured learner performance on low and high cognitive effort questions. We were able to provide some support for the constructivist learning theory's hypothesis that learners can take the principles constructed in a business simulation and apply them in other contexts. Additionally, we explored the implications of confidence/self‐efficacy theory and demonstrated that transfer may differ based on cognitive effort.

Effects of Characteristics of Physical Activity on Children’S Cognition and Academic Performance Based on the Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of various forms of physical activity on children’s cognition and academic performance, detect the characteristics of physical activity that promote the development of the cognitive function, and identify which cognitive dimension benefits the most from characteristic physical activity. We also aimed to distinguish the characteristics of physical activity that promoted non-executive cognitive functions, core executive functions, and metacognition, respectively. Web of Science, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, ERIC databases were searched for relevant literature published between 2000 and 2020. The random-effects model was used to calculate the combined effect size (ES) and the corresponding 95% confidence interval (95%CI), and subgroup analysis was performed. I2 statistics were used to evaluate the heterogeneity of each study, with small, medium, and large heterogeneity being represented by < 25%, 25%-50%, and > 50%, respectively. The results showed that acute physical activity had small-to-medium and above-medium positive effects on inhibiting executive function and cognitive flexibility, respectively. However, chronic physical activity had small-to-medium and above-medium positive effects on the working memory of executive function and non-executive cognitive function, respectively. Physical activity with high cognitive effort obviously benefited core executive function, while the non-executive cognitive function was more advanced by aerobic exercise. In addition, an aerobic exercise designed to increase physical strength promoted working memory, while inhibition benefited from cognitively physical activity requiring high cognitive effort (or cognitive engagement). For children aged 6 to 12, regular physical activity exercises that continued for several weeks were more likely to improve multiple cognitive areas, especially the core executive function and non-executive cognitive function, compared to acute exercise intervention, and these effects were affected by the characteristics of physical activity. Third, several weeks of physical activity that required cognitive effort or was cognitively challenging appeared to be more effective in improving cognitive performance than aerobic exercise.

Decision-Making with Multiple Interacting Criteria: An Indirect Elicitation of Preference Parameters Using Evolutionary Algorithms

Decision-making problems often require characterization of alternatives through multiple criteria. In contexts where some of these criteria interact, the decision maker (DM) must consider the interaction effects during the aggregation of criteria scores. The well-known ELECTRE (ELimination Et Choix Traduisant la REalité) methods were recently improved to deal with interacting criteria fulfilling several relevant properties, addressing the main types of interaction, and retaining most of the fundamental characteristics of the classical methods. An important criticism to such a family of methods is that defining its parameter values is often difficult and can involve significant challenges and high cognitive effort for the DM; this is exacerbated in the improved version whose parameters are even less intuitive. Here, we describe an evolutionary-based method in which parameter values are inferred by exploiting easy-to-make decisions made or accepted by the DM, thereby reducing his/her cognitive effort. A genetic algorithm is proposed to solve a regression-inspired nonlinear optimization problem. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper addressing the indirect elicitation of the ELECTRE model’s parameters with interacting criteria. The proposal is assessed through both in-sample and out-of-sample experiments. Statistical tests indicate robustness of the proposal in terms of the number of criteria and their possible interactions. Results show almost perfect effectiveness to reproduce the DM’s preferences in all situations.

Acceptability of a digital return-to-work intervention for common mental disorders: a qualitative study on service user perspectives

BackgroundThere is an evident discrepancy between need and provision of evidence-based return-to-work (RTW) interventions in existing mental health services. Online dissemination of evidence-based interventions is presumed to reduce this gap. However, there is almost no knowledge available on perceived acceptability of digital RTW interventions among service users, which are factors that might influence the development and implementation of future interventions. The aim of this study was to develop knowledge of service user acceptability of mWorks, a proposed digital RTW solution.MethodsParticipants (n = 18) with experience of common mental disorder and sick leave were recruited with a purposive snowball sampling method. Semi-structured interviews (n = 12) and one focus group interview (n = 6) were conducted. A deductive thematic analysis was performed according to the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability.ResultsDigital RTW interventions were perceived as acceptable and aligned with participant value. Participants expressed positive attitudes toward having access to support, regardless of time and place. A certain ambiguity between a decline in social interactions and opportunities to RTW in a safe space was reported. Participants were confident in their ability to use digital RTW solutions, but reported the need to reduce stressful elements of using smartphones. Overly demanding digital solutions, i.e. ones requiring high cognitive effort, were described as burdensome.ConclusionsFor digital RTW solutions to be acceptable, they need to complement traditional services by providing accessible and person-centred support throughout the RTW process. They should be designed to reduce the need for cognitive effort. Future research should explore how to balance user autonomy with other support components in digital interventions.

An eye tracking study: positive emotional interface design facilitates learning outcomes in multimedia learning?

Unlike the other studies on emotional design in multimedia learning, the present study differentiated the two confounding variables of visual interface design and structured content to manipulate the instructional material. Specifically, we investigated how the visual aesthetics of positive emotional interface design influenced learners’ cognitive processes, emotional valences, learning outcomes, and subjective experience. Eighty-one college students took part in the experimental study. They were divided into the three experimental groups: a holistic layout of positive emotional design group (HPED), a local layout of positive emotional design group (LPED), and a neutral emotional design group (ND). By using a mixed approach of questionnaires and eye tracking, we further explored the differences among the three groups in cognitive processing, learning outcomes, and subjective experience. Results indicated that the LPED group invested higher cognitive effort, put more attentional focus in the relevant knowledge content module, and achieved better learning performance (i.e., retention and transfer tests) in contrast to the HPED group and the ND group. However, no significant difference in dynamic changes of emotional state among the three groups was detected. The analytical results can provide researchers and practitioners with valuable insights into the positive emotional design of multimedia learning, which allows for the facilitation of mental engagement, learning outcomes and subjective perception.

Patience, Cognitive Abilities, and Cognitive Effort: Survey and Experimental Evidence From a Developing Country

This study sheds light on the relationship between cognition and patience by documenting that the correlation between cognitive abilities and delay discounting is weaker for the same group of individuals if choices are incentivized. This study conjectures that higher cognitive effort, which induces higher involvement of the cognitive system, moderates the relationship between patience and cognition. For 107 participants drawn from the adult population in Tbilisi, this study examines the relationship between various measures of cognitive ability and that of patience. Specifically, we consider the relationship between the Cognitive Reflection Test, a numeracy test, self-reported math ability measure, enumerators’ assessments, and incentivized and hypothetical trade-offs between smaller-sooner and larger-later payments.

Cultural differences in vocal emotion recognition: a behavioural and skin conductance study in Portugal and Guinea-Bissau

Cross-cultural studies of emotion recognition in nonverbal vocalizations not only support the universality hypothesis for its innate features, but also an in-group advantage for culture-dependent features. Nevertheless, in such studies, differences in socio-economic-educational status have not always been accounted for, with idiomatic translation of emotional concepts being a limitation, and the underlying psychophysiological mechanisms still un-researched. We set out to investigate whether native residents from Guinea-Bissau (West African culture) and Portugal (Western European culture)—matched for socio-economic-educational status, sex and language—varied in behavioural and autonomic system response during emotion recognition of nonverbal vocalizations from Portuguese individuals. Overall, Guinea–Bissauans (as out-group) responded significantly less accurately (corrected p < .05), slower, and showed a trend for higher concomitant skin conductance, compared to Portuguese (as in-group)—findings which may indicate a higher cognitive effort stemming from higher difficulty in discerning emotions from another culture. Specifically, accuracy differences were particularly found for pleasure, amusement, and anger, rather than for sadness, relief or fear. Nevertheless, both cultures recognized all emotions above-chance level. The perceived authenticity, measured for the first time in nonverbal cross-cultural research, in the same vocalizations, retrieved no difference between cultures in accuracy, but still a slower response from the out-group. Lastly, we provide—to our knowledge—a first account of how skin conductance response varies between nonverbally vocalized emotions, with significant differences (p < .05). In sum, we provide behavioural and psychophysiological data, demographically and language-matched, that supports cultural and emotion effects on vocal emotion recognition and perceived authenticity, as well as the universality hypothesis.

Pupil dilation reflects the authenticity of received nonverbal vocalizations

The ability to infer the authenticity of other’s emotional expressions is a social cognitive process taking place in all human interactions. Although the neurocognitive correlates of authenticity recognition have been probed, its potential recruitment of the peripheral autonomic nervous system is not known. In this work, we asked participants to rate the authenticity of authentic and acted laughs and cries, while simultaneously recording their pupil size, taken as proxy of cognitive effort and arousal. We report, for the first time, that acted laughs elicited higher pupil dilation than authentic ones and, reversely, authentic cries elicited higher pupil dilation than acted ones. We tentatively suggest the lack of authenticity in others’ laughs elicits increased pupil dilation through demanding higher cognitive effort; and that, reversely, authenticity in cries increases pupil dilation, through eliciting higher emotional arousal. We also show authentic vocalizations and laughs (i.e. main effects of authenticity and emotion) to be perceived as more authentic, arousing and contagious than acted vocalizations and cries, respectively. In conclusion, we show new evidence that the recognition of emotional authenticity can be manifested at the level of the autonomic nervous system in humans. Notwithstanding, given its novelty, further independent research is warranted to ascertain its psychological meaning.

Work system analysis on puncher bar repair process in the production division of Akademi Teknik Soroako (Soroako Technical Academy)

One of the regular services in the Production Division of Akademi Teknik Soroako (Soroako Technical Academy) is repairing puncher bars of PT Vale Indonesia, One of the stages of his work is to straighten each punch bar. For straightening up each puncher bar, the worker needs to hammer each puncher bar with a 5 kg iron hammer manually. This operation requires enormous physical energy and high cognitive effort for controlling body movement, causing fatigue and cumulative musculoskeletal trauma. The research focuses on assessing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders on the straightening employing Ovako Work Posture Analysis System (OWAS) and Rapid Upper limb Assessment (RULA). The result of the study shows that the work postures while straightening the puncher bar has OWAS score = 2 which means it needs corrective action in the near term, and RULA score = 7 which means the work posture improvement should be made right now. Based on the OWAS and RULA score, several improvement programs and techniques are suggested in this study.