Abstract
I present a number of looming barriers to a smooth path of progress for cognitive workload assessment. The first of these is the AID’s of workload (i.e., association, indifference, and dissociation) between its various reflections (i.e., subjective, physiological, and performance measures). The second is the manner in which the time-varying change in imposed task demand links to the workload response, and what specific characteristics of the former drive the latter. The third is the persistent but largely unaddressed issue of the meaningfulness of the work undertaken. Thus, does interesting and involving work result in lower workload and vice-versa? If these foregoing and predominantly methodological concerns can be overcome, then the utility of the workload construct can continue to grow. If they cannot be resolved then workload assessment threatens to be ineffective in a world which desperately requires a valid and reliable way to index cognitive achievement.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
I am, rather, a real illusionist. That is, I subscribe to the existence of matter but believe all perceived patterns in such matter are iatrogenic illusion. Such illusions are embedded in the standard narrative of living existence, the final illusion of which is time. As a tool, time can be a useful servant but a poor master.
- 2.
Of course, exactly how we determine, a priori, what represents increasing ‘task demand’ is itself an issue fraught with the problem of subjective assessment. For the present example, I have based the arguments on an assumption of increasing demand but need to acknowledge the potential flaws in this foundation.
References
Carayon, P., Hancock, P.A., Leveson, N., Noy, I., Sznalwar, L., van Hootegem, G.: Advancing a sociotechnical systems approach to workplace safety: developing the conceptual framework. Ergonomics 58(4), 548–564 (2015)
Endsley, M.R.: Toward a theory of situation awareness in dynamic systems. Hum. Factors 37(1), 32–64 (1995)
Fitts, P.M.: The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement. J. Exp. Psychol. 47(6), 381–391 (1954)
Flach, J.M., Voorhorst, F.A.: What Matters: Putting Common Sense to Work. Wright State University Libraries, Dayton (2016)
Gilbert, D.: Stumbling into Happiness. Vintage, New York (2005)
Hancock, P.A.: Effect of control order, augmented feedback, input device and practice on tracking performance and perceived workload. Ergonomics 39(9), 1146–1162 (1996)
Hancock, P.A.: On the future of work. Ergon. Des. 5(4), 25–29 (1997)
Hancock, P.A.: Automation: How much is too much? Ergonomics 57(3), 449–454 (2014)
Hancock, P.A.: The royal road to time: how understanding of the evolution of time in the brain addresses memory, dreaming, flow and other psychological phenomena. Am. J. Psychol. 128(1), 1–14 (2015)
Hancock, P.A.: Imposing limits on autonomous systems. Ergonomics (2017, in press)
Hancock, P.A., Caird, J.K.: Experimental evaluation of a model of mental workload. Hum. Factors 35(3), 413–429 (1993)
Hancock, P.A., Drury, C.G.: Does Human Factors/Ergonomics contribute to the quality of life? Theoret. Issues Ergon. Sci. 12, 1–11 (2011)
Hancock, P.A., Meshkati, N. (eds.): Human Mental Workload. North-Holland, Amsterdam (1988)
Hancock, P.A., Newell, K.M.: The movement speed-accuracy relationship in space-time. In: Heuer, H., Kleinbeck, U., Schmidt, K.H. (eds.) Motor Behavior: Programming, Control and Acquisition, pp. 153–188. Springer, Heidelberg (1985)
Hancock, P.A., Pepe, A., Murphy, L.L.: Hedonomics: The power of positive and pleasurable ergonomics. Ergon. Des. 13(1), 8–14 (2005)
Hancock, P.A., Warm, J.S.: A dynamic model of stress and sustained attention. Hum. Factors 31, 519–537 (1989)
Hancock, P.A., Weaver, J.L., Parasuraman, R.: Sans subjectivity, ergonomics is engineering. Ergonomics 45(14), 991–994 (2002)
Hancock, P.A., Williams, G., Miyake, S., Manning, C.M.: The influence of task demand characteristics on workload and performance. Int. J. Aviat. Psychol. 5(1), 63–85 (1995)
Jansen, R.J., Sawyer, B.D., van Egmond, T., de Ridder, H., Hancock, P.A.: Hysteresis in mental workload and task performance: the influence of demand transitions and task prioritization. Hum. Factors 58(8), 1143–1157 (2016)
Kahneman, D.: Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrer, Strauss & Giroux, New York (2011)
Longo, L.: A defeasible reasoning framework for human mental workload representation and assessment. Behav. Inf. Technol. 34(8), 758–786 (2015)
Meshkati, N., Hancock, P.A., Rahimi, M.: Techniques of mental workload assessment. In: Wilson, J. (ed.) Evaluation of Human Work: Practical Ergonomics Methodology. Taylor & Francis, London (1989)
Moray, N. (ed.): Mental Workload: Its Theory and Measurement. Plenum Press, New York (1979)
Morgan, J.F., Hancock, P.A.: The effect of prior task loading on mental workload: an example of hysteresis in driving. Hum. Factors 53(1), 75–86 (2011)
Prytz, E.G., Scerbo, M.W.: Changes in stress and subjective workload over time following a workload transition. Theoret. Issues Ergon. Sci. 16(6), 586–605 (2015)
Smith, A. (ed.): Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Strahan and Cadell, London (1776)
Smith, K., Hancock, P.A.: Situation awareness is adaptive, externally directed consciousness. Hum. Factors 37(1), 137–148 (1995)
Wickens, C.D.: Multiple resources and performance prediction. Theor. Issues Ergon. Sci. 3(2), 159–177 (2002)
Yeh, Y.Y., Wickens, C.D.: Dissociation of performance and subjective measures of workload. Hum. Factors 30, 111–120 (1988)
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the organizers of the meeting for permitting me this opportunity and especially professor Luca Longo for his helpful and insightful suggestions on an earlier version of the present work. I am also indebted to Dr. Lauren Reinerman-Jones, and the UMPIREE Project for the support in order to consider a number of these conceptual problems.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hancock, P.A. (2017). Whither Workload? Mapping a Path for Its Future Development. In: Longo, L., Leva, M. (eds) Human Mental Workload: Models and Applications. H-WORKLOAD 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 726. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61061-0_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61061-0_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-61060-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61061-0
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)