Comparing Eye-Gaze Metrics of Mental Workload in Monitoring Process Plants

Abstract

Continuous, non-invasive workload indicators of operators is an essential component for dynamically assigning appropriate amount of tasks between automation and operators to prevent overload and out-of-the-loop problems in computer-based procedures. This article examines the monitoring task difficulty manipulated by the task type and load, and explores physiological measurements in relation to mental workload. In a within-subject design experiment, forty-five university students performed monitoring tasks in simulated nuclear power plants (NPPs) control room. The performance of monitoring tasks (accuracy), subjective mental workload (NASA Task Load Index), as well as four eye-related physiological indices were measured and analyzed. The results show that as monitoring task difficulty increased, task performance significantly decreased while NASA-TLX, number of fixations, and dwell time significantly increased. Number of fixations and dwell time could be effective, non-invasive continuous indicators of workload for enabling adaptive computerbased procedures.

Validating an abnormal situation prediction model for smart manufacturing in the oil refining industry

“…Recently, fixation duration and fixation numbers have been used in oil refinery studies (Huang et al, 2019;Salehi et al, 2018;Shi et al, 2021). Researchers have shown that number of fixations could be effective and continuous indicators of workload in a control room monitoring task (Huang et al 2019).…”

“…Recently, fixation duration and fixation numbers have been used in oil refinery studies (Huang et al, 2019;Salehi et al, 2018;Shi et al, 2021). Researchers have shown that number of fixations could be effective and continuous indicators of workload in a control room monitoring task (Huang et al 2019). Moreover, Salehi et al (2018) compared novices' and experts' visual behaviors captured in real-time monitoring when they were engaged in a task with regard to abnormal situation.…”