Low Physiological Arousal in Mental Fatigue: Analysis of Heart Rate Variability during Time-on-task, Recovery, and Reactivity

Abstract

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has been suggested as a useful tool to assess fatigue-sensitive psychological operations. The present study uses between and within-subject design to examine the temporal profile of HRV including the changes related to reactivity, time-on-task (ToT), and recovery on a cognitively demanding task. In the fatigue group, participants worked on a bimodal 2-back task with a game-like character (the gatekeeper task) for about 1.5 hours, followed by a 12-minute break, and a post-break block of performance (about 18 min). In the control group, participants watched documentaries. We hypothesized that mental fatigue is associated with low physiological arousal and increasing vagal-mediated HRV as a function of ToT. We also analysed the trial-based post-response cardiac activity as a physiological indicator of task-related motivation. Relative to the control, ToT was associated with an elevated level of subjective fatigue, decreased heart rate, and increased HRV most robustly in the vagal-mediated components. Based on fatigued participants’ post-error cardiac slowing, and post-error reaction time analyses, we found no evidence for motivation deficit in association with increasing HRV and ToT. The present findings support the low arousal state of mental fatigue and suggest that primarily the vagal components of the HRV spectrum are indicative of fatigue. In addition, the study provides evidence that many HRV indices might be changed not only in a fatiguing condition but also if individuals are engaged in a prolonged non-fatiguing activity. This finding emphasizes the relevance of control conditions in ToT experiments.

Cognitive load dissonance and personality factors: an empirical analysis in organizational settings

“…In other words, when perceived stress significantly increases or decreases, the workers might feel the need to manage their stress level to return to a state of equilibrium. Indeed, the vagal tone index, such as the RMSSD, is sensitive to small changes in cognitive activity related to mental fatigue and is associated with peoples' ability to flexibly react to changing demands of the external environment (Matuz et al, 2021;Sebastiani et al, 2019). This skill is regulated by the inhibitory activity of the prefrontal cortex (Sebastiani et al, 2019) and in a typical working condition, the vagal tone may progressively reduce its activity in situations of acute stress, then regain vigor during a prolonged cognitive task which can cause mental fatigue (Matuz et al, 2021).…”

Virtual meeting fatigue: Exploring the impact of virtual meetings on cognitive performance and active versus passive fatigue.

“…This parameter is known to be more stable and repeatable (e.g., Uusitalo et al, 2011) and less affected by breathing (Penttilä et al, 2001) than other types of HRV measures, offering reliable and meaningful insights into different fatigue states and recovery. Scholars have used RMSSD, for example, to study sleepiness and drowsiness (for a recent review, see Matuz et al, 2020), self-regulation (e.g., Zahn et al, 2016), and stress recovery (e.g., Loerbroks et al, 2010) . Most of these studies have been conducted in laboratories (e.g., Burlacu et al, 2021; Kaida et al, 2007) and a few in real-road driving studies (Buendia et al, 2019; Jung et al, 2014; Persson et al, 2020).…”