Measures Of Mental Workload Research Articles

The impact of visual attractions on drivers’ visual performance and mental workload in highway tunnel access zones

The visual attractions present in the access zones of highway tunnels can exert a detrimental effect on drivers’ visual performance and mental workload, thereby posing a significant risk to driving safety. This study aims to evaluate the impact of these eye-catching elements on driving safety performance by comparing and analyzing the influence of various visual attraction conditions in tunnel access zones on both the objective visual performance and subjective mental workload assessments of novice and experienced drivers. Four distinct visual attraction scenarios were selected for implementation in the access zones of highway tunnels: baseline, landscape-inspired architecture, informational tip slogans, and commercial billboards. Naturalistic driving experiments were conducted, supplemented by subjective mental workload measurements, to analyze a range of factors, including drivers’ first fixation duration (FFD), mean fixation duration (MFD), distance from tunnel portal when first fixation occurs at visual attraction (DTP), number of fixations (NOF), pupil diameter (PD), and visual sample entropy (SampEn). Subjective mental workload was assessed using the NASA-TLX scale. The results revealed that visual attractions within tunnel access zones significantly affected drivers’ objective visual performance and subjective mental workload evaluations. Different visual attractions exerted varied effects on visual attention, stability, cognitive workload, and subjective mental workload. Specifically, billboards were found to rapidly capture drivers’ attention, leading to unstable visual performance. Informational tip slogans demanded greater attention and cognitive effort, resulting in increased cognitive workload. Furthermore, novice drivers demonstrated poorer visual performance, stability, and higher workload compared to their experienced counterparts. This research highlights the intricate relationship between visual attractions and their impact on drivers’ visual performance and mental workload, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions and enhancements in visual strategies particularly tailored for novice drivers. The findings contribute to the domain of transportation psychology and offer practical implications for improving the safety and efficiency of tunnel access zones through evidence-based design strategies. Ultimately, the insights gained from this study can guide the design of visual attractions in highway tunnel access zones to optimize drivers’ visual performance and mitigate mental workload.

Minimize Mental Workload and Fatigue of Horizontal Directional Drilling Worker Using Rating Scale Mental Effort and Swedish Occupational Fatigue Inventory Methods.

Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a drilling technique that does not damage the groundsurface; the HDD process involves a stage that requires high concentration and physical skills and isoften carried out in challenging working conditions, causing mental Workload and fatigue in HDDworkers. HDD workers should be given improvements in their work methods to be safe whenworking due to being too tired or losing focus. HDDs must be monitored in real-time, which requiresworkers to get good results without errors so that workers experience workload pressure andmental fatigue. This study aims to measure and minimize mental Workload and fatigue in HDDworkers and determine improvement proposals based on the why-why diagram. Mental workloadmeasurement using the RSME method and fatigue using SOFI and why diagrams are used to findcause and effect in mental Workload and fatigue experienced by HDD workers. Based on the analysisof RSME, the scale value obtained based on six indicators of WL, WD, WP, WME, WA, and WF is 92.05,which is in the category of enormous business carried out, and the KiK indicator or fatigue gets thehighest scale value of 106.52 with the business category given is very large so that HDD workersexperience a mental workload. Mental workload and fatigue correlate. Based on the results of SOFI,the sleepiness dimension received a score of 21.83 with a high level of fatigue category. Therefore,the proposed improvement to the causal results of the Why Diagram is adding the workforce,adjusting work shifts, and monitoring and evaluating HDD workers.

Mental Workload as a Predictor of ATCO’s Performance: Lessons Learnt from ATM Task-Related Experiments

Air Traffic Controllers’ (ATCos) mental workload is likely to remain the specific greatest functional limitation on the capacity of the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. Developing computational models to monitor mental workload and task complexity is essential for enabling ATCOs and ATM systems to adapt to varying task demands. Most methodologies have computed task complexity based on basic parameters such as air-traffic density; however, literature research has shown that it also depends on many other factors. In this paper, we present a study in which we explored the possibility of predicting task complexity and performance through mental workload measurements of participants performing an ATM task in an air-traffic control simulator. Our findings suggest that mental workload measurements better predict poor performance and high task complexity peaks than other established factors. This underscores their potential for research into how different ATM factors affect task complexity. Understanding the role and the weight of these factors in the overall task complexity confronted by ATCos constitutes one of the biggest challenges currently faced by the ATM sphere and would significantly contribute to the safety of our sky.

Analisis Beban Kerja Mental Menggunakan Metode NASA-TLX pada Engineering Departement (Studi Kasus PT. Muliaglass Float Division)

PT Muliaglass Float Division, a subsidiary of PT Mulia Industrindo, operates in the glass and ceramic industry with a large production capacity every day. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the extent of psychological stress and what factors affect it. One way to measure mental workload is NASA-TLX. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) is used to assess emotional mental load. The NASA TLX method is a mental workload measurement method that measures workload by dividing it into six aspects of work elements. NASA-TLX is divided into two phases. That is, comparing each scale and rating job performance. A total of 20 employees of the Engineering Department will be included in the study by distributing questionnaires. The results of the research calculations show an average Weight Work Load (WWL) score of 62.67 which falls into the high category. Further evaluation revealed influencing variables, including lack of rest time, lack of work office, and lack of inspiration at work that affect employee performance.

Evaluation of physiological responses to mental workload in n-back and arithmetic tasks

Working memory tasks, such as n-back and arithmetic tasks, are frequently used in studying mental workload. The present study investigated and compared the sensitivity of several physiological measures at three levels of difficulty of n-back and arithmetic tasks. The results showed significant differences in fixation duration and pupil diameter among three task difficulty levels for both n-back and arithmetic tasks. Pupil diameters increase with increasing mental workload, whereas fixation duration decreases. Blink duration and heart rate (HR) were significantly increased as task difficulty increased in the n-back task, while root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and standard deviation of R-R intervals (SDNN) were significantly decreased in the arithmetic task. On the other hand, blink rate and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) were not sensitive enough to assess the differences in task difficulty for both tasks. All significant physiological measures yielded significant differences between low and high task difficulty except for SDNN. Practitioner summary: This study aimed to assess the sensitivity levels of several physiological measures of mental workload in n-back and arithmetic tasks. It showed that pupil diameter was the most sensitive in both tasks. This study also found that most physiological indices are sensitive to an extreme change in task difficulty levels.

Investigation of eye movement measures of mental workload in healthcare: Can pupil dilations reflect fatigue or overload when it comes to health information system use?

The use of health information systems (HIS) can result in high workloads and, consequently, poor performance characterized by e.g. increased occurrence of errors among clinicians. Pupillometry offers a good possibility to measure mental workload in a dynamic work setting. Currently, there is a lack of empirical research in the context of healthcare settings. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine whether specific eye movement measures are suitable for measuring mental workload in the healthcare setting, especially when working with HIS. 49 persons participated in our simulation-lab study. They had to complete a system-related task as well as an increasing n-back task. Both tasks were modified regarding task difficulty. Results show significant differences for objective and subjective workload measures between increasing task levels. There are also hints for an overload/fatigue indicator in pupil data. Our results are limited in terms of external validity, causality and effects. Future work should focus on high-fidelity simulations and less time-consuming analysis approaches.

Analysis of the Effect of Working Hours on Mental Workload Using the Subjective Workload Assessment Technique Method

This research contains a study of the effect of working hours on mental workload using the Subjective Workload Assessment Technique (SWAT) method. Workload is a consequence of activities given to workers, worker activities can basically be distinguished between physical activities and mental activities. In practice, the workload encountered is a combination of physical workload and mental workload. This study aims to measure mental workload at 10 work stations in the production section at PT Berlian Eka Sakti Tangguh. The SWAT method is a subjective mental workload measurement method based on workers' perceptions. The dimensions are time load, mental effort load and psychological pressure load. The results of the calculation of workload based on SWAT found that the workload category of workers in the production section is at a moderate and high level. The highest workload was experienced at the palm oil storage station (5 workers) at 83.71%. The lowest workload was experienced at the stewing station (3 workers) at 27.36%.

Trends, relationship, and model of selected service sector workers in Malaysia: Physiological responses of mental workload and mental fatigue during performing real-time tasks

Service sector is a job that is considered exposed to high mental demand. There is lack of technique to measure issues related to the mental workload and mental fatigue levels among workers. Moreover, no studies have yet developed a model to predict mental fatigue especially for service sector workers. It is necessary to investigate mental workload and mental fatigue in real time working activities. The main purpose of this study was to identify the trends and relationship between mental workload and mental fatigue level among service sector workers. Ten participants with a mean age of 35.00±8.62 (SD) years took part in the study. Two experiments in Without Rest (WoR) and With Rest (WR) segments involving data entry and arithmetic tasks were conducted. Physiological measures using Electroencephalogram (EEG), Electrooculogram (EOG) and heart rate (HR) were assessed while participants were performing the tasks. The result shows that EEG alpha signal was significantly higher at the end of WR compared to WoR segment (p<0.05). Comparison between WoR and WR segments for each task show that HR of WR tasks were significantly lower in all tasks (p<0.05). This study developed seven mental workload and mental fatigue conceptual models with strong variables correlations (r>0.05) to evaluate the variability of both parts of two types of activities, namely, data entry and arithmetic tasks. The findings highlighted that validated parameters and methods for mental fatigue and mental workload measures are brain signals and heart rate monitoring, and task performance measure. Significant findings of the study could be as a reference for organizations to plan and manage resources by optimizing mental workload condition and minimizing mental fatigue occurrence

Presence and simulator sickness predict the usability of a virtual reality attention task

Attention is the ability to actively process specific information within one’s environment over longer periods of time while disregarding other details. Attention is an important process that contributes to overall cognitive performance from performing every day basic tasks to complex work activities. The use of virtual reality (VR) allows study of the attention processes in realistic environments using ecological tasks. To date, research has focused on the efficacy of VR attention tasks in detecting attention impairment, while the impact of the combination of variables such as mental workload, presence and simulator sickness on both self-reported usability and objective attention task performance in immersive VR has not been examined. The current study tested 87 participants on an attention task in a virtual aquarium using a cross-sectional design. The VR task followed the continuous performance test paradigm where participants had to respond to correct targets and ignore non-targets over 18 min. Performance was measured using three outcomes: omission (failing to respond to correct targets), commission errors (incorrect responses to targets) and reaction time to correct targets. Measures of self-reported usability, mental workload, presence and simulator sickness were collected. The results showed that only presence and simulator sickness had a significant impact on usability. For performance outcomes, simulator sickness was significantly and weakly associated with omission errors, but not with reaction time and commission errors. Mental workload and presence did not significantly predict performance. Our results suggest that usability is more likely to be negatively impacted by simulator sickness and lack of presence than performance and that usability and attention performance are linked. They highlight the importance of considering factors such as presence and simulator sickness in attention tasks as these variables can impact usability.

ANALISIS BEBAN KERJA FISIK DAN MENTAL PEKERJA PADA PROSES VULKANISIR BAN DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN METODE CARDIOVASCULAR LOAD (CVL) DAN NASA-TLX

UD. Pandawa Tire is a UD engaged in the manufacture of tires retreaded. The production process at Pandawa Tires still often does overtime due to the number of new employees 9 people and the average target of making 60 tires every day which causes fatigue and mental and physical workload. The analytical methods used to measure the physical and mental workload of workers are Cardiovascular Load (CVL) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). The results showed that the greatest physical workload was felt by workers with a CVL percentage of 46.1%, which was between 30% to 60% in the medium category, meaning that improvements are needed but not urgent. While the results of the measurement of mental workload showed that all workers were included in the high category, with the largest NASA-TLX score of 83.33. Correlation Test was Pearson Product Moment conducted to see the relationship between the value of the physical and mental workload received by the worker. The results of the calculation of the correlation test show that there is a relationship between CVL and NASA-TLX, although there is a correlation, but the correlation is significant in influencing each other between the amount of physical workload and mental workload felt by workers. The correlation value of r obtained is 0.672. Which means that there is a strong positive correlation between the physical workload and the mental burden felt by the Pandawa tire workers

Cortical theta–gamma coupling tracks the mental workload as an indicator of mental schema development during simulated quadrotor UAV operation

Objective. In the emerging field of neuroergonomics, mental workload assessment is one of the most important problems. Previous studies have made some progress on the relationship between task difficulties and mental workload, but how the mental schema, a reflection of the understanding and mastery degree of a task, affects mental workload has not been clearly discussed. Approach. There is emerging appreciation for the role of theta–gamma coupling (TGC) in high-level cognitive functions. Here, we attempt to further our understanding of how mental schema development and task difficulty had an impact on mental workload from the perspective of TGC. Specifically, the variation of TGC coupling strength and coupling pattern was estimated with different test orders and task difficulties performed by 51 students in a ten-day simulated quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle flight training and test tasks. Main results. During the training, TGC increased with mental schema development. For the test tasks, TGC did not change with increasing task difficulty before the operator formed a mental schema but decreased with the increasing mental workload after the formation of the mental schema. Significance. Our results suggest that TGC was a robust indicator of mental schema development and could be biased by task difficulty. In conclusion, TGC can be a promising measure of mental workload, but only for experienced operators.

Measured increases in steering entropy may predict when performance will degrade: A driving simulator study

We investigated the effect of time-on-task on driver’s mental workload and driving performance during a simulated driving task. The extent of mental workload was estimated from steering entropy, while driver performance was measured from the Standard Deviation of Lateral Position (SDLP) and the Standard Deviation (SD) Sterring Angle. Seventeen participants underwent a simulated highway driving task for 60 min. The results show that mental workload increased significantly after 15 min, whereas driving performance did not degrade until 30 min. These results suggest that when drivers first affected by time-on-task, they can cope with the situation by increasing mental effort investment and can manage to perform normally for a while (15 min). Since changes in steering entropy precede changes in driving performance, this measure of mental workload may have utility as a predictor of increased accident risk.

Nasa-TLX and Sofi Methods as a Tool for Measuring Students' Mental Load and Failure During Online Learning Basic Neurology Physiotherapy Courses

Online lectures are currently being implemented due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The problem of students who are not accustomed to the demands of independent study due to limited time, facilities, materials and abilities, causes excessive anxiety and panic. This will cause a mental burden that it has an impact on student fatigue which causes a decrease in efficiency, resilience and work capacity. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the mental workload and fatigue of students during online lectures. Measurement of mental workload using the NASA-TLX method and fatigue measurement using SOFI. The results of this study indicate that the mental workload received by students is in the high category while fatigue is in the medium category. Significant differences in average mental load can be seen based on gender, scientific field, study program accreditation, education level, GPA during online lectures, involvement of student activities, online lecture aids, online lecture venues, how to connect to the network, online tuition fees, and the number of hours of online study. Significant differences in average fatigue can be seen based on gender, study program accreditation, education level, online lecture aids, and the number of hours of online study..

Mild simulator sickness can alter heart rate variability, mental workload, and learning outcomes in a 360° virtual reality application for medical education: a post hoc analysis of a randomized controlled trial

Virtual reality (VR) applications could be beneficial for education, training, and treatment. However, VR may induce symptoms of simulator sickness (SS) such as difficulty focusing, difficulty concentrating, or dizziness that could impair autonomic nervous system function, affect mental workload, and worsen interventional outcomes. In the original randomized controlled trial, which explored the effectiveness of using a 360° VR video versus a two-dimensional VR video to learn history taking and physical examination skills, only the former group participants had SS. Therefore, 28 undergraduate medical students who participated in a 360° VR learning module were included in this post hoc study using a repeated measures design. Data of the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, Task Load Index, and Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise were retrospectively reviewed and statistically analyzed. Ten (36%) participants had mild SS (total score > 0 and ≤ 20), and 18 (64%) had no SS symptom. Total SSQ score was positively related to the very low frequency (VLF) band power, physical demand subscale, and frustration subscale, and inversely related to physical examination score. Using multilevel modeling, the VLF power mediated the relationship between total SSQ score and physical examination score. Furthermore, frustration subscale moderated the mediating effects of the VLF power. Our results highlight the importance of documenting SS to evaluate a 360° VR training program. Furthermore, the combination of HRV analysis with mental workload measurement and outcome assessments provided the important clinical value in evaluating the effects of SS in VR applications in medical education.

The Effect of ADHD Diagnosis, Roadway Environment, and Traffic Aggressiveness on Aggressive Driving Behavior

Aggressive driving behavior poses a serious risk to public safety worldwide. Aggressive driving is described as a socially dysfunctional behaviors marked by unsafe driving maneuvers that pose as a risk to driver safety. Sixty-seven drivers with previous driving experience participated in this study. Participants were required to complete a series of driving behavior questionnaires and simulated driving scenarios. Furthermore, an electrocardiogram (ECG) was used to collect heart rate variability (HRV) scores as a measure of mental workload. It was hypothesized that attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis, roadway environment, and traffic aggressiveness would have an effect on driving performance and mental workload. Results indicated that roadway environment and traffic aggressiveness had a significant effect on driving performance. Results from the HRV analyses showed that ADHD participants had significantly higher HRV scores than their non-ADHD counterparts. Collectively, these findings highlight the utility of HRV measure for evaluating mental workload among ADHD drivers. Our findings have practical implications for driver assessment, roadway design, and traffic safety.

Methods and Measures for Mental Stress Assessment in Surgery: A Systematic Review of 20 Years of Literature.

Real-time mental stress monitoring from surgeons and surgical staff in operating rooms may reduce surgical injuries, improve performance and quality of medical care, and accelerate implementation of stress-management strategies. Motivated by the increase in usage of objective and subjective metrics for cognitive monitoring and by the gap in reviews of experimental design setups and data analytics, a systematic review of 71 studies on mental stress and workload measurement in surgical settings, published in 2001-2020, is presented. Almost 61% of selected papers used both objective and subjective measures, followed by 25% that only administered subjective tools - mostly consisting of validated instruments and customized surveys. An overall increase in the total number of publications on intraoperative stress assessment was observed from mid-2010 s along with a momentum in the use of both subjective and real-time objective measures. Cardiac activity, including heart-rate variability metrics, stress hormones, and eye-tracking metrics were the most frequently and electroencephalography (EEG) was the least frequently used objective measures. Around 40% of selected papers collected at least two objective measures, 41% used wearable devices, 23% performed synchronization and annotation, and 76% conducted baseline or multi-point data acquisition. Furthermore, 93% used a variety of statistical techniques, 14% applied regression models, and only one study released a public, anonymized dataset. This review of data modalities, experimental setups, and analysis techniques for intraoperative stress monitoring highlights the initiatives of surgical data science and motivates research on computational techniques for mental and surgical skills assessment and cognition-guided surgery.

The National Aviation and Space Agency Task Load Index (NASA-TLX): Does it Need Updating?

The NASA-TLX is arguably the most widely used self-report measure of workload in the field of Human Factors and Ergonomics. Previous research utilizing factor analysis has indicated it may not actually be a good unitary measure of workload. In the present study, we have modified two of the original six items, Frustration and Performance, to better reflect workload by replacing them with Emotional Demand and Performance Monitoring Demand items. Confirmatory factor analyses indicate the new scale is an improvement but Physical Demand should also be considered for removal; this results in a five-item measure of mental workload, not overall task workload, as physical demands may not be meaningfully combinable with cognitive demands.

Develop a Comprehensive Method to Evaluate the Mental Workload of Ship Operators

Mental workload has become an important factor affecting the human error of ship operators. Controlling the mental workload of operators within a reasonable range can reduce human errors. The purpose of this study is to develop an evaluation method to evaluate the ship operator’s mental workload. First, the evaluation indices system was constructed according to three types of mental workload measurements. Second, the criteria importance though intercrieria correlation (CRITIC) method and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method were used to determine the relative weight of each index. Finally, the fuzzy theory was used to calculate ship operator’s mental workload. The experiment results indicated that subjective workload assessment technique, physiological measurement (eye response), and error rate can be integrated into the comprehensive evaluation method to assess the mental workload of ship operators. Thus, this method can be used to comprehensively evaluate the mental workload level and improve the reliability of the assessment results.

Analysis of mental workload and work family conflict with burnout on lecturers who work from home during pandemic

Introduction: Despite the amount of research on mental workload and work family conflict, there are persist questions about their relation with Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization and lack of Personal Accomplishment. This paper attempts to show that the relationship between mental workload and work family conflict on burnout for female lecturers who work from home during the pandemic Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on 50 female lecturers who worked at home. The measurement of mental workload was used by Nasa TLX and work family conflict was developed by the Malaysian version of Kelloway. Maslah Burnout Inventory is used to determine the burnout level. Data analysis used logistic regression to determine the significance between mental workload and work family conflict on the burnout dimension (Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, lack of Personal Accomplishment). Results: This study found that age, children, length of working, structural position did not significantly affect burnout. There was negative correlation with burnout leveld (p> 0.005). Work family conflict showed a significant in dimension of burnout EE (p=0.028), DP (p=0.011), PA (0.029) Conclusion: This study has found that generally work family conflict affected burnout in female lecture

Decision Support System Assessment Of Truck Driver Work Mental Load in Giwangan Market Area, Yogyakarta Using NASA-TLX

Traditional markets in Indonesia have experienced a decline in performance as from 2002 to 2013. Sales value in 2002 was 74.8%, in 2005 the sales value of traditional markets was 67.6%, then in 2011 it was 55.8%. Giwangan Market is the largest traditional market in the area of Yogyakarta Province. However, many of the traditional markets have inadequate infrastructure both in terms of cleanliness and tidiness of the market location which is detrimental to truck drivers in these markets. Research shows that driver fatigue is the cause of road accidents by 30%. Regarding the measurement of mental workload, subjective measures of workload are easy to provide and have high assessment ability because the measurement is independent of the task. The Decision Support System Model can provide input to Giwangan Market managers to show the mental workload scale of truck drivers using the NASA-TLX Scale (Task Load Index) approach, the most widely used subjective scale by asking participants to rank separately on the mental command subscales. demand, physical demand, temporal demand, own performance, effort, and frustration level. The results of the system show that the mental workload of truck drivers in Giwangan Yogyakarta Market has a very high workload, as many as 4 drivers, 5 drivers have a high workload and 1 driver has a fairly high workload interpretation.