The Mental Workload Definition and Assessment - Essay Example

? Mental workload Introduction Mental workload might not have a specific definition but I wish to give a small illustration that perhaps shall make the reader to be in a position to even understand it better. The world undergoes huge transformation in a single moment due to increased technological developments. Technological developments occur in several fields including health, economy, and education and even in the transportation sector. Drivers for instance need to cope with these technological developments because new vehicles fit with new gadgets are being manufactured almost on a daily basis. First it was manual gear vehicles and today it is automatic gear vehicles. Therefore drivers workload is affected, accidents do not occur because drivers never received well training but probably their mental workload is affected, for instance there are many vehicles on the road and the driver must be extra careful, some cars have radio, car phone and route guidance system. All these need drivers’ attention, the external technological demand and the normal task they have to achieve. Mental workload can be defined therefore as a relative concept, the ratio of demand to allocated resources. It is the measure of the amount and types of work performed by an individual within a period of time (Hancock, et al, 1990). Ways of assessing mental workload. As stated above mental workload is an attribute of person task and the effects of such workload on human performance (Gopher, 1986).There are several ways of measuring mental workload because if the worker is overworked for instance, his mental and physical workload can be significantly interfered with and this can affect the worker adversely. There are ways to help asses the mental workload of an operator. We have subjective measures that include the actual estimation of the workload and performance measures that help to determine the reaction time, number correct and number detected (Hancock, et al, 1990). We also have analytical measures and psychological measure that include measuring heart rate, heart rate variability and brain activity. These techniques if well used shall enable us to determine the mental workload of an individual and the limit at which the workload should reach so that any adverse effected relating to extreme workload such as accidents on the road for a driver or the plane crash for a pilot (Andre, et al, 1995). In this context, I am going to discuss subjective measures into details. Subjective measures are based on operator rating of the task, they involve judgments of the effort and also reflect the direct opinion of the operator in context of the task environment and skills and experience level of the operator. Since subjective mental workload methods provide a complete self-assessed estimate of workload, subjective metrics simply gives relative rather than absolute data. There are three best tested ways to assess mental workload, unidimensional measures of mental workload. Here we use Bedford scale to show an operator spare mental capacity while completing the task. A hierarchical decision tree is used where the operator completes a ten-point rating where each point is accompanied by a descriptor factor of the associated level of workload (Andre, et al, 1995). Another subjective measure which is frequently used is known as multidimensional. Here two rating scales are used, the Task Load Index (NASA) and the Subjective Workload Assessment Techniques (SWAT). Applications of mental workload assessment Mental workload assessment has brought practical use in the today’s world. Its analysis has enabled the determination of its pros and cons across the world. For instance subjective assessment techniques have found its use in flight industry where it is used in testing the flight operational and evaluation. Secondly, the concept of mental workload has greatly found its application in the manufacturing and administrative tasks .Since the development of technology, there have been an imposed requirement that a worker’s mental capabilities be established so that appropriate workload to be issued . This application is very healthy since it protect the worker from being overworked, hence it ensure efficiency of the worker to deliver quality job (Andre, et al, 1995). Another important application of the mental workload is in forecasting the task outcome. Mental workload determines the input requirements of the task, the external demand of the task to the operator and successfully determines the result of the output. Here it helps to reveal the mental capability of the operator, that is, if the task is within his mental capability or the task is beyond his mental capability. Mental workload is conceptualized in terms of information processing. Information possessing may include cognitive as well as motivational aspects. The operators will self-regulate their efforts since they will always evaluate external demands which they have to cope up with besides their normal task demand (Wickens 1984). Supporting evidences for and against mental workload Many scientists and researchers have worked come up with different supportive evidences backing the existence of mental workload. A 2004 report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and quality (AHRQ) indicated several AHRQ-funded studies on the relationship that exist between the hospital nurse s staffing and quality of patient care. The report indicated that a severe nursing workload might negatively affect the patients. It further indicated that a loaded nurse might fail to attend to the patient as expected and this may lead to a reduced patient satisfaction (Wickens 1984). Human has limited capability for processing information and also cognitive resources are limited and a supply and demand occurs when the individual performs two or more tasks at the same time, a task that require a single resource .Excess workload caused by a task using the same resource can cause a serious problem that can even result into errors in the performance (Wickens 1984). The relationship that exist between the workload and performance is more complex and needs a lot of research. I don’t believe that it is what people say that if the rate of workload is increased, the performance will decrease and vice versa. This concept or state of mind need not be relied upon but a thorough research should be carried out to prove its validity and reliability. Stress has also proven to be the worst outcome of the mental workload. The research conducted revealed that any person suffering from a serious workload often develops stress. Stress is a disturbed mental condition which when not treated in time can lead to a serious complication called depression. In conclusion, it is recommended especially to the employers that before they hire a potential worker or operator for that case, a mental workload assessment should be carried out in order to determine the mental capability of an individual lest the work be overworked (Wickens 1984). Lastly, mental workload assessment programs should be started at various work places to ensure efficiency of the worker and the employer because I do believe that efficiency of the worker do effect employer in one way or the other. Productive worker will shape the image of the employer in terms of quality performance. References Andre,A, et al. (1995). “Effects of workload preview on taskscheduling during simulated instrument flight.” .international journal of aviation Psycology,5(1),5-23. Hancock,P and Warm,J.,(1990). “A dynamic model of stress and sustainable attention.” Human factor, 31(4), 519-537. Hancock, et al. (1990). “Driver workload during different driving maneuvers.” Accident Analysis & prevention ,22(3),281-290. Hancock,P. nd Desmond , P., (Eds), Stress, workload and fatique:theory, research and practice.Mahweh, NJ, USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Association Publishers. Giannini,A., Giannini, J.,N (1999). Cognitive workload and the organization of mental space. In Jacobs,K (Ed.) Ergonomics for Therapists: Second Edition. Boston. Read More