Cognitive demands and mental workload: A filed study of the mining control room operators

Abstract

Cognitive demand and mental workload assessment are essential for the optimal interaction of human-machine systems. The aim of this study was to investigate the cognitive demands and mental workload as well as the relationship between them among the mining control room operators.This cross-sectional study was performed on 63 control room operators of a large mining plant located in Iran. Cognitive demands and mental workload were assessed using cognitive task analysis (CTA) and NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX), respectively and the analysis was performed using SPSS version 21. Independent samples Ttest, Mann-Whitney U test and multivariate linear regression were used for data analysis.Twelve cognitive demands were extracted after observing the tasks and conducting semi-structured interviews with the control room staff. The mean scores of total cognitive demands and MWL were 6.60 and 72.89, respectively, and these two indicators showed a positive and significant correlation (r ¼ 0.286; P ¼ 0.023). The participants' demographic characteristics such as age, education, and work experience did not affect mental workload, but the two cognitive demands (memory and defect detection) affected MWL.High cognitive demands and mental workload indicate poor interaction between humans and machines. Due to the effect of memory load and defect detection on mental workload, it is recommended to assign cognitive tasks based on memory and defect detection to the machine to reduce the mental workload and improve humanmachine interaction.

Multi-dimensional Ergonomic Evaluation Method for Cockpit Light Environment

“…A total of 1872 data items of 13×12×12 were substituted into the above mathematical model. Quantified ergonomic evaluation value can be obtained from equation (10) and equation (11), as given in Table 1 and Table 2. If the ergonomic evaluation value is closer to 1, it will obtain higher ergonomic efficiency.…”

“…In 2021, Haraldsson et al tested the human workload through questionnaires [10], which are used for evaluating and improving the influence of working environment on ergonomics of humancomputer interaction. In 2022, Mohammadian's team studied the cognitive needs and mental load of mining control room operators [11]. By reducing the cognitive needs and mental load, the effectiveness of human-computer interaction can be improved.…”

Physical and psychological job demands and fatigue experience among offshore workers

“…Relatively high levels of fatigue have also been reported in other parts of the world [ 11 , 12 ]. As a multidimensional phenomenon (including physical, mental), fatigue can be defined as the subjective experience of weakness, tiredness, and energy deficit [ 1 ], influencing health, safety and performance of employees in almost all occupations and countries [ 1 , 10 , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] ]. Fatigue-related outcomes can be classified as acute (e.g., decreased strength, muscle fatigue) and chronic (e.g., musculoskeletal symptoms, chronic-fatigue syndrome) [ 13 ].…”

Cognitive Fitness of Post-Retirement Employees in Control Room Settings

“…Based on the above explanation, the purpose of this study is to identify the cognitive abilities that support critical tasks in the control room, and to determine the cognitive abilities of retired workers (post-retirement workers) in meeting the demands of these tasks. Cognitive demand correlated with working condition and employee well-being (Madonna et al, 2019;Mohammadian et al, 2022), so this study was conducted to identify which cognitive abilities need to be taken into consideration and improved/enhanced for post-retirement workers so that they can meet the demands of their job. As said by Hayward and Majmundar (2018) that the most important and challenging in research of aging is to measure the cognitive function.…”