Assessment of Mental Workload Using Event-Related Potentials

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  • Daimoto Hiroshi
    R & D Operations, YAMAHA MOTOR Co., Ltd. Department of Cyber Society and Culture, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies
  • Takahashi Tsutomu
    Department of Integrated Psychological Science, Kwansei Gakuin University
  • Fujimoto Kiyoshi
    Department of Integrated Psychological Science, Kwansei Gakuin University
  • Takahashi Hideaki
    Department of Cyber Society and Culture, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies R & D Division, National Institute of Multimedia Education
  • Kurosu Masaaki
    Department of Cyber Society and Culture, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies R & D Division, National Institute of Multimedia Education
  • Yagi Akihiro
    Department of Integrated Psychological Science, Kwansei Gakuin University

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Other Title
  • 事象関連電位によるメンタルワークロードの評価
  • ジショウ カンレン デンイ ニ ヨル メンタル ワークロード ノ ヒョウカ

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In this study, two different “event-related brain potentials (ERPs)” were examined to assess mental workload. Eye-fixation-related potentials (EFRPs) associated with the occurrence of fixation pause can be obtained from averaging electroencephalograms (EEGs) at the offset of saccades. An EFRP is a kind of event-related brain potential (ERP), which has a relationship with visual attention and the physical properties of visual stimulus. Auditory P300 is the ERP elicited from probe stimuli in a secondary task. The amplitude of a late positive wave (P300) is inversely proportioned to the amount of perceptual-central processing resources allocated to a primary task. In this experiment, the lambda responses of EFRPs and auditory P300 (irrelevant probe technique) were examined concurrently with multiple tracking tasks to compare the effects of tasks of different difficulties. Eighteen participants were assigned six different types of tracking task, each for 5 min. The workload under each tracking condition was different in the task quality (the difficulty of perceptual-motor and/or perceptual-central levels). As a result, the peak amplitude of lambda responses decreased with the level of perceptual-motor workload, while the peak amplitude of P300 didn't decrease with the level of both workloads. The results suggested that the brain physiological indexes should be used in a usability testing with due consideration of reaction characteristics and the limits of measuring technique.

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