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Optical brain monitoring for operator training and mental workload assessment
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Optical brain monitoring for operator training and mental workload assessment

Hasan Ayaz, Patricia A Shewokis, Scott Bunce, Kurtulus Izzetoglu, Ben Willems and Banu Onaral
NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.), v 59(1)
02 Jan 2012
PMID: 21722738

Abstract

Humans Monitoring, Physiologic - methods Workload - psychology Functional Neuroimaging - methods Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared - methods Brain - physiology Task Performance and Analysis
An accurate measure of mental workload in human operators is a critical element of monitoring and adaptive aiding systems that are designed to improve the efficiency and safety of human-machine systems during critical tasks. Functional near infrared (fNIR) spectroscopy is a field-deployable non-invasive optical brain monitoring technology that provides a measure of cerebral hemodynamics within the prefrontal cortex in response to sensory, motor, or cognitive activation. In this paper, we provide evidence from two studies that fNIR can be used in ecologically valid environments to assess the: 1) mental workload of operators performing standardized (n-back) and complex cognitive tasks (air traffic control--ATC), and 2) development of expertise during practice of complex cognitive and visuomotor tasks (piloting unmanned air vehicles--UAV). Results indicate that fNIR measures are sensitive to mental task load and practice level, and provide evidence of the fNIR deployment in the field for its ability to monitor hemodynamic changes that are associated with relative cognitive workload changes of operators. The methods reported here provide guidance for the development of strategic requirements necessary for the design of complex human-machine interface systems and assist with assessments of human operator performance criteria.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Neuroimaging
Neurosciences
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
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