As an index of task workload, the possible advantages of the event-related brain potential (ERP) over traditional secondary task techniques and psychophysiological measures are described and previous efforts to validate the use of ERPs in this context are discussed. A series of six experiments is then reported in which the effects of tracking difficulty and display-monitoring load manipulations on secondary-task reaction time and ERP measures are compared. The results are interpreted within the framework of a “multiple reservoir” conception of processing resources and task workload.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
DefayolleM.DinandJ.GentilM.Average evoked potentials in relation to attitude, mental load and intelligence. In SingletonW.T.FoxJ.G.WhitfieldD. (Eds.). Measurement of Man at Work.London: Taylor and Francis, 1971.
2.
DonchinE.Event-related brain potentials: A tool in the study of human information processing. In BegleiterH. (Ed.), Evoked Potentials in Psychiatry.Plenum Press, 1979.
3.
HartS.Subjective time-estimation as an index of workload. Airline Pilots Association, Advances in Workload Symposium. Washington, D.C., August 1978.
4.
HeffleyE.WickensC.DonchinE.Intra-modality selective attention and P300-Reexamination in a visual monitoring task (abstract). Psychophysiology, 1978, 15, 269–270.
5.
NavonD.GopherD.On the economy of the human processing system. Psychological Review, 1979 (in press).
6.
RolfeJ.M.The secondary task as a measure of mental load. In SingletonW.T.FoxJ.G.WhitfieldD. (Eds.), Measurement of Man at Work.London: Taylor and Francis, 1971.
7.
SandersA.F.Some remarks on mental load. In MorayN. (Ed.), Mental Workload: Its Theory and Measurement.New York: Plenum Press, 1979.
8.
SheridanT.JohannsenG.Monitoring Behavior and Supervisory Control.New York: Plenum Press, 1976.
9.
SpykerD.StackhouseA.KhalafallaA.McLaneR.Development of techniques for measuring pilot workload. NASA CR 1886, 1971.
10.
SquiresK.DonchinE.Beyond Averaging: The use of discriminant functions to recognize event related potentials elicited by single auditory stimuli. Electroencephalogy & Clinical Neurophysiology, 1976, 41, 449–459.
11.
WickensC.D.Human workload measurement. In MorayN. (Ed.), Mental Workload: Its Theory and Assessment.New York: Plenum Press, 1979.
12.
WickensC.D.The structure of processing resources. In NickersonR.PewR. (Eds.), Attention and Performance VIII.New York: Erlbaum, 1979 (in press).
13.
WickensC.IsrealJ.DonchinE.The event-related cortical potential as an index of task workload. In NealA.S.PalasekR.F. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 21st Annual Meeting, San Francisco, October 1977.
14.
WickensC.D.KesselC.J.The effects of participatory mode and task workload on the detection of dynamic system failures. IEEE Transactions on Systems Man & Cybernetics SMC-13, January, 1979.
15.
WierwilleW.WilligesR.Survey and analysis of operator workload assessment techniques. Blacksburg, VA: Systemetrics, Technical Report No. S-78–101, 1978.
