Task Monotony Research Articles

How to Counteract Driver Fatigue during Conditional Automated Driving—A Systematic Review

This paper summarizes the research on countermeasures against driver fatigue based on a comprehensive systematic literature review. Driver fatigue, induced by task monotony during conditional automated driving (CAD, SAE Level 3), can increase the risk of road accidents. There are several measures that counteract driver fatigue and aim to reduce the risk caused by a fatigued driver in the context of CAD. Twelve selected articles focusing on driver fatigue countermeasures in CAD were analyzed. The findings and conclusions are presented, focusing on the countermeasures themselves and their implementation. The countermeasures were critically discussed, especially regarding effectiveness and applicability. They seem to be effective in counteracting driver fatigue. However, the measures are not easily compared because they were studied in various experimental settings and various driver fatigue measurements were used. Different countermeasures have proven to be effective in reducing fatigue during CAD. For this reason, further investigation is needed to gain further insights into their applications, advantages, and disadvantages. Further studies will be conducted to verify the best solution regarding their effectiveness and applicability.

It’s so boring – or is it? Examining the role of mindfulness for work performance and attitudes in monotonous jobs

We examine the role of employee mindfulness in the context of highly monotonous work conditions. Integrating research on task monotony with theorizing on mindfulness, we hypothesized that mindfulness is negatively associated with the extent to which employees feel generally bored by their jobs. We further hypothesized that this lower employee boredom would relate to downstream outcomes in the form of job attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intentions) and task performance. We examined both objective task performance quality and quantity to shed light on the complexity of the mindfulness–task performance relation, which has so far mostly been investigated using subjective supervisor ratings. In a sample of 174 blue‐collar workers in a Mexican company, results showed that employee mindfulness was negatively related to boredom. Further, mindfulness was positively related to job satisfaction and negatively to turnover intentions, partly mediated through boredom. Mindfulness turned out to be a double‐edged sword for task performance in monotonous jobs: Mindfulness was positively related to task performance quality but negatively related to quantity.Practitioner points In repetitive, monotonous jobs held by millions of people worldwide, more mindful employees perceive their job as less boring. Furthermore, mindful employees have higher job satisfaction and are less likely to quit. With regard to objective job performance, mindfulness can be a double‐edged sword: It positively affects objective performance quality via boredom, but negatively affects objective performance quantity directly.

HR practice in a fast food MNC: exploring the low discretion, high commitment phenomenon

The theme of vertical ‘fit’ or the strategic alignment of HR practice with external organizational demands has long occupied the attention of the academic and practitioner communities. In recent years call centre research has identified the low-discretion, high commitment (LDHC) phenomenon. That is, the use of highly controlled forms of work organization allied to aspects of high commitment management (HCM). Explanations for this seemingly contradictory combination have emphasised the managerial desire to alleviate the pernicious effects associated with extreme routinisation and task monotony as a means of managing morale and maintaining service quality. Little has been done however to theoretically explore how the process works, or indeed its limitations. The current study extends the field of investigation into the fast food sector. Incorporating insights from models of job satisfaction it is argued that facets of the job tasks performed (e.g. monotony, customer pressures and stigma) are partially offset by broader HR characteristics (e.g. a well-established internal labour market and explicit recognition culture), rendering staff broadly satisfied with their work. It is concluded, however, that the success of LDHC is strongly mediated by the disposition and nature of the workforce. One practical implication is the use of an ‘alleviation’ approach to LDHC may be tightly bounded in terms of its successful application.

Effect of road geometry on driver fatigue in monotonous environments: A simulator study

Driver fatigue, induced by task monotony can increase the risk of road accidents. Highways are usually designed with few geometric changes so that high-speed traveling would be possible. Such conditions when combined with repetitive and stimulus-free environments, create a monotonous driving experience that can lead to mind wandering and task disengagement, and subsequently affect driver’s performance. This paper focuses on the relationship between road geometry and driver’s vigilance level in monotonous environments. Therefore a driving simulator experiment with three different scenarios, which were originated from three existing highways in rural areas of Iran, with low, moderate, and high levels of geometric variety was developed. Participants drove for 45 min in each scenario and their steering wheel movements (SWM), standard deviation of steering wheel movements (SDSWM), and lane positioning ability (indexed by the area between trajectory and road’s centerline (ABTC)) was analyzed. The results indicated a significant effect of road design on lane positioning (P < .001). The mean value of total ABTCs showed 11.3 and 20.6 percent of performance improvement for scenarios with moderate and high geometric variety respectively. Also, a significant effect of time on task was observed on SWM and SDSWM (P < .001). However, the deterioration rate was considerably lower in scenarios with higher geometric variety. This work can help to develop more efficient monotony countermeasures with regards to road’s geometric design characteristics. It also provides useful information for more optimized road designs in such environments from driver’s mental workload perspective.

Job demands, job resources and innovative work behaviour: a European Union study

ABSTRACTThis study aims to investigate the relationship between several job design variables and innovative work behaviour (IWB). Guided by the Job Demands Resources model, the aim was to evaluate the relationship between work demands (time constraints), resources (autonomy and social support), and other work factors (task monotony, complexity, and dealing with unforeseen circumstances) with idea generation and idea implementation behaviours in a sample of 12,924 participants from the 27 European Union member states in 2010. We also wished to investigate if individual IWB, at the country level, is associated with country innovative performance (an aggregate of process/product and marketing/organizational innovation). We employed a multilevel generalized structural equation model to test our hypotheses. In our final model autonomy, manager encouragement and dealing with unforeseen problems showed the highest positive relationship with idea generation and idea implementation. Conversely, monotonous tasks and working at high speed were negatively related to IWB. Furthermore, we have found strong indications that country-level IWB positively relates to the odds of a country scoring higher on the aforementioned innovation indicators. Between-country unexplained variance in IWB was reduced from 17.1% in our initial model, to 1.9% in our final iteration. Limitations, implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Rest Is Still Best.

We examined the impact task interruptions of differing qualitative and quantitative load have on visuospatial vigilance sensitivity. The vigilance decrement and attempts to develop countermeasures to the decrement is one of the most important human factors issues. There is an ongoing debate between those who interpret the increase in the rate of failures to detect signals over time as being due to objective task monotony or task underload and those who interpret this increased failure proneness as being predominately due to cognitive-resource depletion and task overload. Participants were assigned at random to one of six interruptions: Participants were given a complete rest (rest); participants completed a 1-back verbal working-memory (WM) task, a 3-back verbal WM task, a 1-back spatial WM task, or a 3-back spatial WM task; or participants performed the primary vigilance task (continuous). Postinterruption performance was best for rest and worst for continuous. A resource theory perspective led us to make two possible predictions of relative interruption effect orders of the six conditions out of 720 possible orderings. We found one of the two orders. Overall, the vigilance sensitivity decrement appears to be due to the recurring use of particular cognitive resources, and resource theorists should explore this more extensively in the future. Countermeasures for the vigilance decrement should be based on clear cognitive-resource considerations. Rest is the best countermeasure. Intervening tasks should be chosen that minimize resource-demand overlap with the vigilance task.

Disrupting monotony while increasing demand: benefits of rest and intervening tasks on vigilance.

In the experiments presented here, we examined the impact of intervening tasks on the vigilance decrement. In Experiment 1 participants either (a) continuously performed a visuospatial vigilance task, (b) received a rest break, or (c) temporarily performed a different, demanding visuospatial task in the middle of the vigil. Both taking a rest break and performing the intervening task were found to alleviate the vigilance decrement in response times. Target detection accuracy was equivalent across groups. In Experiment 2 we obtained subjective ratings of task demand, boredom, motivation, and mind wandering for both the vigilance task and intervening task administered in Experiment 1. The intervening task was rated as more demanding in terms of mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, own performance, effort, and frustration. In addition, participants also reported being more bored, less motivated, and reported mind wandering more frequently when completing the vigil. Disruptions to task monotony (even if cognitively demanding), can alleviate the vigilance decrement. The implications of this finding with respect to current theoretical accounts of the vigilance decrement are discussed.

A Resource-Control Account of Sustained Attention

Staying attentive is challenging enough when carrying out everyday tasks, such as reading or sitting through a lecture, and failures to do so can be frustrating and inconvenient. However, such lapses may even be life threatening, for example, if a pilot fails to monitor an oil-pressure gauge or if a long-haul truck driver fails to notice a car in his or her blind spot. Here, we explore two explanations of sustained-attention lapses. By one account, task monotony leads to an increasing preoccupation with internal thought (i.e., mind wandering). By another, task demands result in the depletion of information-processing resources that are needed to perform the task. A review of the sustained-attention literature suggests that neither theory, on its own, adequately explains the full range of findings. We propose a novel framework to explain why attention lapses as a function of time-on-task by combining aspects of two different theories of mind wandering: attentional resource (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006) and control failure (McVay & Kane, 2010). We then use our “resource-control” theory to explain performance decrements in sustained-attention tasks. We end by making some explicit predictions regarding mind wandering in general and sustained-attention performance in particular.

Sustained attention failures are primarily due to sustained cognitive load not task monotony

We conducted two studies using a modified sustained attention to response task (SART) to investigate the developmental process of SART performance and the role of cognitive load on performance when the speed-accuracy trade-off is controlled experimentally. In study 1, 23 participants completed the modified SART (target stimuli location was not predictable) and a subjective thought content questionnaire 4 times over the span of 4weeks. As predicted, the influence of speed-accuracy trade-off was significantly mitigated on the modified SART by having target stimuli occur in unpredictable locations. In study 2, 21 of the 23 participants completed an abridged version of the modified SART with a verbal free-recall memory task. Participants performed significantly worse when completing the verbal memory task and SART concurrently. Overall, the results support a resource theory perspective with concern to errors being a result of limited mental resources and not simply mindlessness per se.

Brief mental breaks and content-free cues may not keep you focused

The dominant theory amongst vigilance researchers is resource theory. From this theoretical perspective the increase in lapses with time on task, the vigilance decrement, is due to the depletion of the cognitive resources necessary for the maintenance of performance. Alternative under-load theories have recently been suggested: mindlessness and goal habituation. Advocates of mindlessness theory suggest the vigilance decrement results from conscious disengagement due to task monotony. From this theoretical perspective, the inclusion of content unrelated cues should draw the participants out of their mindless state. An alternative proposal is that vigilance decrements are a result of goal habituation. From this perspective a momentary deactivation and reactivation of task goal by inserting a brief task switch in a vigilance task should eliminate the vigilance decrement. In order to examine these alternative theories, we had 498 participants perform a visual vigilance task with either the inclusion of brief task switches, content-free cues, or in comparative control conditions during the vigilance task. All experimental groups had an equivalent robust vigilance decrement measured by both a decline in perceptual sensitivity over time and an increase in response latency over time. There was, moreover, no difference in self-reported mental workload or task-unrelated thoughts across the experimental groups. Bayesian analyses resulted in substantial evidence in favour of the null hypothesis, in agreement with the expectations based on resource theory and contrary to the expectations based on either the mindlessness or goal-habituation theories.

Potential Benefits and Costs of Concurrent Task Engagement to Maintain Vigilance

The objective of this study was to investigate the nature of concurrent task interference during a vigilance task and to determine whether a concurrent task improves performance with decreased vigilance. Research has repeatedly shown that engaging in a cell phone conversation while driving increases the risk of getting into crashes. At the same time, it has also been found that task monotony could lead to an increase in crash risk. There is evidence that suggests that engaging in a concurrent task reduces the effects of monotony, leading to an improvement in vigilance task performance. A monotonous drive in a driving simulator was used to investigate the effects of a concurrent verbal task. Three task conditions were used: no verbal task, continuous verbal task, and late verbal task. When engaged in a secondary verbal task, drivers showed improved lane-keeping performance and steering control when vigilance was lowest. A strategically placed concurrent task can improve performance when vigilance is at its lowest. There is potential for the design of a countermeasure system that can be strategically activated by an automated system monitoring driver performance.

Task-Induced Fatigue and Collisions in Adult Drivers with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Objective. This study compares collision involvement between adult drivers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and control participants in a simulation experiment designed to enhance the effects of fatigue. Because the effects of ADHD include difficulties in maintaining attention, drivers with ADHD were hypothesized to be more susceptible to the effects of fatigue while driving. Methods. Data are drawn from a validated driving simulation study, portions of which were focused on enhancing the effects of fatigue. The simulator data are supplemented with written questionnaire data. Drivers with ADHD were compared with controls. Results. The self-report data indicated that drivers with ADHD were more likely to report having been involved in an accident within the previous five years. Simulation data showed that time of day of participation in the experiment were significantly related to likelihood of collision, and that these effects were further exacerbated by ADHD status. Participants with ADHD were more likely than controls to be involved in a crash in the simulator regardless of time of day, but the effects were particularly pronounced in the morning, and the rate of increase in accident involvement from the late afternoon into the evening was greater among participants with ADHD. No differences in self-reported sleep patterns or caffeine use were found between participants with ADHD and controls. Conclusions. The results suggest that drivers with ADHD became fatigued more quickly than controls. Such drivers thus face greater risk of involvement in accidents on highways or open roadways where the visual and task monotony of the environment contribute to greater driver fatigue.

Worker flexibility and its perceived contribution to performance: The moderating role of task characteristics

AbstractThis study examined the relationship between worker flexibility in team‐based work and its perceived contribution to efficiency, work quality, and innovation, and the moderating role of task autonomy, skill utilization, and task monotony. Four‐hundred ninety‐four employees from 113 teams in 15 organizations completed and returned questionnaires. Skill utilization proved to be positively related to perceived contribution of flexibility to efficiency, work quality, and innovation. Furthermore, skill utilization strengthened the positive relationships between worker flexibility and its perceived contribution to efficiency and work quality and weakened the negative relationship between worker flexibility and its perceived impact on innovation. Task monotony was negatively related to the perceived quality benefits of being flexible. In addition, it weakened the positive relationship between worker flexibility and its perceived contribution to both efficiency and quality and strengthened the negative relationship with the perceived impact of flexibility on innovation. Task autonomy was positively related to the perceived contribution of flexibility to innovation and weakened the negative relationship between worker flexibility and the perceived innovation benefits of being flexible. The authors conclude that skill utilization and lack of monotony are important issues in relation to worker flexibility on all performance objectives that were considered, whereas task autonomy seems especially relevant when innovation is a key issue. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 17: 117–135, 2007.

Phoneme identification and the lexicon

In seven experiments reaction time to detect the initial phoneme of words and nonwords was measured. Reaction time advantages for words over nonwords come and go according to the particular characteristics of the experimental situation. One relevant characteristic is degree of task monotony, an effect which is most parsimoniously explained by attention shifting between levels of processing. General classes of models of the relationship between levels of processing in comprehension are discussed in light of the results. Serial models incorporate an attention shift explanation of the monotony effect more elegantly than do interactive models. Alternative serial models are available in the literature in this area. One recent model, which allows only a single outlet point for phoneme detection responses, and hence requires that apparent reaction time advantages for words are artefactual, can be unambiguously rejected on the basis of the present data. It is argued that a serial model involving competition between target detection based on a prelexical representation and detection based on a lexical representation most satisfactorily accounts for the overall pattern of results.