The Effect of Cognitive Load on Physiological Arousal in a Decision-Making Serious Game

摘要

The aim of this paper is to investigate how a substantial cognitive load overshadows the physiological arousal effect, in an attempt to study cognitive abilities of participants engaged on decision-making tasks in serious games. Participants were engaged in a dynamic serious game environment displaying online biofeedback based on the physiological measurements of arousal. The pupil diameter was analyzed in relation to the heart rate during a challenging decision-making task. It was found that the moment when a substantial cognitive load overshadows the physiological arousal effect is observable on the pupil diameter in relation to the heart rate.