Temporal change of subsidiary behavior in monotonous work

Interactive Model of Subsidiary Behaviors, Work Performance and Autonomic Nerve Activity during Visual Display Terminal Work

“…Previous studies [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] support the notion that subsidiary behaviors, which are not directly relevant to the task would be useful indices as behavioral responses, as well as physiological and psychological responses. Kishida 7,10) defined subsidiary behaviors as those that aid in escaping from monotony, repetitive tasks, or a perpetually constrained posture.…”

“…a) Subsidiary behaviors In previous studies 7,8,10,16) , subsidiary behaviors were obtained by counting the movements of each body part. Our preliminary test indicated that it was appropriate for sedentary VDT work to use the following twenty-eight items: combinations of body parts (head, neck/shoulders, trunk, lower back/hip, arms, legs) and their movements (scratch, touch/rub, move, pat/knead), and 4 other items, which were yawn, rub eye(s), take a short break, and sigh.…”

“…Some previous studies evaluated subsidiary behaviors by examining the number of body parts that moved during task operations or events such as naps and chatting [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] . Scientists have distinguished some categories such as postural movements, verbal and nonverbal activities 11,21,23,25,27) .…”

“…were categorized into one group as the first factor. Because a change in work posture, which increases in frequency during continuous work, is a compensatory activity [7][8][9] , it indicates a worker's self-defense response to the regularity and monotony of the work. It might be appropriate to regard the subsidiary behaviors included in the first factor as DBM.…”

“…Kishida 7,10) defined subsidiary behaviors as those that aid in escaping from monotony, repetitive tasks, or a perpetually constrained posture. Substitution activities 17) , substitute or redirected activities 18) , superstitious conduct 19) , non-specific activities 20) , subsidiary activities 20) , additional activities 11) , collateral activities 13) , and behavioral activities 21) , all express a concept identical to Kishida's 7,10) . The appearance of subsidiary behaviors allows workers to escape from the monotony of work or prevent a decline in work performance 22,23) .…”