Cardiovascular and Subjective Measures of Task Demand in a Low Workload Monitoring Task

摘要

A study was conducted in response to a general lack of research into the assessment of the workload which is experienced by the pilot at low levels of task demand. Four existing indices of workload were investigated regarding their sensitivity to two low level task demand situations, i.e., low demand and very low demand. The indices include: (1) The Bedford Workload scale; (2) A five point Alertness scale; (3) Heart rate - measured as the mean inter-beat interval; and (4) Heart rate variability - measured as the standard deviation of the inter-beat interval. A further multidimensional subjective scale which was developed during the study was also employed. This scale consisted of 30 adjectives and phrases which describe feelings of frustration, boredom, and fatigue.