Ergonomics 2 Start

MENTAL
WORKLOAD
PRESENTED BY: GROUP 1
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ETYMOLOGY OF
MENTAL WORKLOAD

The word “mental” originated from the Latin word

“mentalis” which is derived from “mens” meaning
mind.

The word “workload” is a compound word formed

from “work” and “load”. Work originates from Old
English “weorc” and has Germanic roots. “Load”
comes from Old English “lad”, also with Germanic
origins. It is the concept of the amount or burden of
work assigned to an individual or group.
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INTRODUCTION TO Mental workload refers to the subjective

MENTAL WORKLOAD experience of the demands placed on an
individual's cognitive resources while performing a
task.

It is a measure of how much mental effort,

attention, and cognitive resources are required to
complete a task.

Mental workload can be influenced by various

factors, including the complexity of the task, the
amount of information to be processed, the time
pressure involved, and the individual's skill level
and experience in a task.
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INTRODUCTION TO
MENTAL WORKLOAD

Mental workload reflects the amount of mental resources required to perform a set of concurrent tasks
(Hoedemaeker, 2002). Sustained high mental workload will cause mental fatigue, decreased performance, and
even detrimental health effects in the long run (Holm et al., 2009).
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THE CODE
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WHO STUDIES
MENTAL WORKLOAD?
The study of mental workload is primarily conducted by
researchers in psychology, human factors, and ergonomics, with
applications in safety-critical fields such as automotive, aviation,
air traffic control, space flight, and defense.

The research on mental workload involves a variety of tasks,

including arithmetic tasks, reading tasks, memory tasks, control
interface tasks, and specialized tasks like flight or driving.

Researchers use a combination of sensors, subjective measures,

eye tracking, and prior scientific literature to study mental
workload effectively.
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WHAT TASK HAVE HIGH

MENTAL WORKLOAD?

PILOT SURGEON FINANCIAL AIR TRAFFIC

TRADER CONTROLLER
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KEY ELEMENTS FOR

HIGH MENTAL
WORKLOAD TASKS
STIMULUS DRIVEN NOT SELF PACED
LARGE FLUCTUATIONS IN DEMAND
MULTIPLE SIMULTANEOUS TASKS
HIGH STRESS/ HIGH CONSEQUENCE
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FACTORS AFFECTING
MENTAL WORKLOAD

1. Internal Factors
Somatic Factors
Psychological Factors

2. External Factors
Physical Task
Work Organization
Work Environment
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INTERNAL
FACTORS

SOMATIC FACTORS PHYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

Characterized by an extreme focus on physical

are the factors that talk about the psychology of an
symptoms such as pain or fatigue that causes major
emotional distress and problems functioning. individual that drive his actions to seek satisfaction.
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EXTERNAL
FACTORS

WORK ENVIRONMENT
PHYSICAL TASK
composed of physical conditions, such as office
task that requires physical strength in order temperature or equipment, such as personal computers.
to perform them. It can also be related to factors such as work processes
or procedures.
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EXTERNAL
FACTORS

WORK ORGANIZATION

the division of labor, the coordination and

control of work: how work is divided into job
tasks, bundling of tasks into jobs and how
work is coordinated and controlled in order
to fulfil the goals of the organization.
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UNDERLOAD & OVERLOAD

UNDERLOAD OVERLOAD

No time pressure but mental

Sufficiently frequent but simple
requirements are too complex
Qualitative narrow requirements.
and/or complicated.

Mental requirements are too

Time pressure, mental
Quantitative seldom.
requirements are too frequent.
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HIGH MENTAL WORKLOAD

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ESNTAMUMEER
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MEASUREMENT
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NITVOCEGI ESROURCSE
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COGNITIVE RESOURCES
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NASIFITOASCT
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SATISFACTION
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PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
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OLREDNUAD
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UNDERLOAD
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WORK ENVIRONMENT
ANSWER:
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ROLE OVERLOAD ROLE UNDERLOAD

Role underload occurs when an

Role overload occurs employee has insufficient tasks,
when an employee’s role responsibilities, or challenges,
simply becomes too leading to boredom or
demanding or too big. disengagement.
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5 CRITERIA FOR
SELECTION OF
WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT SENSITIVITY
TECHNIQUES

DIAGNOSTICITY INTRUSIVENESS

IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENTS OPERATOR ACCEPTANCE

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5 CRITERIA FOR
SELECTION OF
WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT
TECHNIQUES

SENSITIVITY
It refers to the capability of a measurement
method to detect changes in workload.
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5 CRITERIA FOR
SELECTION OF
WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT
TECHNIQUES

DIAGNOSTICITY
It is the capability of a technique to identify the
specific type of workload or locus of demand.
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5 CRITERIA FOR
SELECTION OF
WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT
TECHNIQUES

INTRUSIVENESS
It refers to the degree to which the measurement
method interferes with the performance of the
primary task.
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5 CRITERIA FOR
SELECTION OF
WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT
TECHNIQUES

IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENTS
It considers the simplicity and practicality of
implementing the measurement method, including
factors like training requirements and equipment
needed.
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5 CRITERIA FOR
SELECTION OF
WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT
TECHNIQUES

OPERATOR ACCEPTANCE
The willingness of individuals to follow the
instructions and use the measurement method
accurately
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WHY DO WE MEASURE
MENTAL WORKLOAD?

• Right Design
• Skill Development
• Cognitive Lapses Prevention
• Psychological Hazards Prevention
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WHY DO WE MEASURE
MENTAL WORKLOAD?

• Right Design
• Skill Development
• Cognitive Lapses Prevention
• Psychological Hazards Prevention
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WHY DO WE MEASURE
MENTAL WORKLOAD?

• Right Design
• Skill Development
• Cognitive Lapses Prevention
• Psychological Hazards Prevention
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WHY DO WE MEASURE
MENTAL WORKLOAD?

• Right Design
• Skill Development
• Cognitive Lapses Prevention
• Psychological Hazards Prevention
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WHY DO WE MEASURE
MENTAL WORKLOAD?

• Right Design
• Skill Development
• Cognitive Lapses Prevention
• Psychological Hazards Prevention
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3 MAIN GROUPS
MEASUREMENT OF
MENTAL WORKLOAD

MEASUREMENT OF MENTAL WORKLOAD

SUBJECTIVE PERFORMANCE PHYSIOLOGICAL

MEASUREMENT MEASUREMENT MEASUREMENT

25
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SUBJECTIVE
MEASUREMENT

Subjective measurements of mental workload are

like asking yourself how hard you feel you're
working mentally. It's based on your own opinion
and feelings about the difficulty of a task. You might
rate it from "very easy" to "very hard" based on how
much mental effort you think you're putting in.
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PERFORMANCE
MEASUREMENT
Performance measurements of mental workload are
like checking how well you're doing tasks or
activities that require thinking. It's about objectively
assessing things like how quickly and accurately
you complete tasks or how much you accomplish
within a certain time frame. So, it's basically
measuring how effective you are at getting things
done when your brain is at work.
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PHYSIOLOGICAL
MEASUREMENT
Physiological measurements of mental workload
involve looking at your body's physical responses
to see how stressed or alert you are while doing a
task. This can include things like monitoring your
heart rate, sweat levels, or even how much your
pupils dilate. These measurements help understand
how your body is reacting to the mental effort
you're putting in, giving insights into your level of
concentration and stress.
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HOW CAN WE MEASURE

COGNITIVE WORKLOAD?
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ELECTRODERMAL
ACTIVITY OR GALVANIC
SKIN RESPONSE

Also known as skin conductance.

Skin conductance can be used as an indicator of
emotional arousal due to an increase in mental
workload.
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HEART RATE
Is a metric similar to skin conductance which is
also observed with an increase in mental
workload.
Heart rate variability is one of the popular
metrics and it refers to how much an individual's
heart rate speed varies.
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ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY
( EEG)

The most popular metrics for measuring

cognitive workload.
It records the electrical activity of the brain
itself.
The most complex to analyze.
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COGNITIVE LOAD
THEORY
Coined in 1988 by John Sweller, suggests that our
working memory is only able to hold a small
amount of information at anyone time and that
instructional methods should avoid overloading it
in order to maximize learning (Sweller, 1988).

Cognitive load theory has been designed to

provide guidelines intended to assist in the
presentation of information in a manner that
encourages learner activities that optimize
intellectual performance.
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5 BEST PRACTICES FOR MANAGING THE MENTAL

WORKLOAD

Prioritize the Avoid Write Stuff

Incoming Information Distractions Down

Repeat to Get some

Remember Help
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THANK YOU