Effects of Performance and Task Duration on Mental Workload during Working Memory Task

N-back is a working memory (WM) task to study mental workload on the prefrontal cortex (PFC). We assume that the subject’s performance and changes in mental workload over time depends on the length of the experiment. The performance of the participant can change positively due to the participant’s l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Photonics 2019, Vol.6 (3), p.94
Main Authors: Khaksari, Kosar, Condy, Emma, Millerhagen, John, Anderson, Afrouz, Dashtestani, Hadis, Gandjbakhche, Amir
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Decision making
Experiments
Fatigue
fNIRS
Hemodynamic responses
Hemodynamics
Hemoglobin
Learning
Memory
Memory tasks
Mental task performance
N-back
Prefrontal cortex
Short term memory
Sleep and wakefulness
Sleepiness
Software
Spectrum analysis
working memory
Workload
Workloads
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Summary:N-back is a working memory (WM) task to study mental workload on the prefrontal cortex (PFC). We assume that the subject’s performance and changes in mental workload over time depends on the length of the experiment. The performance of the participant can change positively due to the participant’s learning process or negatively because of objective mental fatigue and/or sleepiness. In this pilot study, we examined the PFC activation of 23 healthy subjects while they performed an N-back task with two different levels of task difficulty (2-, and 3-back). The hemodynamic responses were analyzed along with the behavioral data (correct answers). A comparison was done between the hemodynamic activation and behavioral data between the two different task levels and between the beginning and end of the 3-back task. Our results show that there is a significant difference between the two task levels, which is due to the difference in task complication. In addition, a significant difference was seen between the beginning and end of the 3-back task in both behavioral data and hemodynamics due to the subject’s learning process throughout the experiment.
ISSN:2304-6732
2304-6732
DOI:10.3390/photonics6030094