Effects of mental load and paced work on parameters of some psychophysiological variables
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15291/radovifpsp.2683Abstract
Twelve trained subjects took part in an investigation on the effects of mental load and paced work on parameters of sinus arrhytmia, lapping task and the task diffieualty estimation by the use of a 21 point scale and cross-modal comparison on a hand dynamometer. The tasks consisted of numerical, perceptual, maze learning and immediate memoy tasks. They were computer generated and presented ona a VDU. Numerical and perceptual tasks were dealt with in unpaced and paced working conditions, while ihe rest of them in unpaced conditions only.
By the use of a special transformation model, the task difficulties were expressed in bits for an easier comparison of the effects on sinus arrhythmia and tapping parameters. While lapping parameters did not show any interprclable change as the task difficulty changed, the sd index of sinus arrhythmia showed a good relationship with the task difficulty. A comparison of the sd index during paced and unpaced performance indicated that paced performance was easier for the subjects. The task difficulty assessment, however, showed Ihe opposite. The authors tried to explain this on the basis of entrainment of imposed work rhythm with the biological rhythm, which, subjectively, acled as an additional stressor, but it did not affect the sinus arrhythmia parameter.
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