Naslov
Working stress and strain in Fitts tapping task

Autori
Nikolić, Matilda ; Šuto, Ana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
7th Alps- Adria Conference in Psychology-Abstracts / Manenica, Ilija - , 2005, 46-46

ISBN
953-7237-02-8

Skup
7th Alps- Adria Conference in Psychology

Mjesto i datum
Zadar, Hrvatska, 02.06.2005. - 04.06.2005

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
working stress; Fitts Tapping Task; heart rate variability; strain

Sažetak
Various studies have shown that efficiency in Fitts Tapping Tasks changes almost proportionally to the changes in the task complexity. The estimates of the task difficulty also follow the same pattern. Some studies, however, which included physiological variables, did not show stable correlations of these variables with the task complexity. The use of heart rate variability (HRV) parameters was no exception. Since HRV parameters have been shown to be good indicators of the subject's involved effort in the task (strain), it seems plausible to assume that the fall in efficiency in Fitts Tapping Task, as its difficulty increases, may be due to lack of subject's effort to meet the increasing task demands. This means that the subject keeps his effort at the same level regardless of the task difficulty. The aim of the study, which included 12 subjects who performed the series of Fitts Tapping Tasks for five minutes each, was to test this hypothesis. Apart from the efficiency, ie. the number of target hits in five minutes, subject’s cardiac R-R intervals were continuously recorded before, during and after the task. After the completion of every task the subjects were asked to estimate the task difficulty and their effort separately, on Borg’s scale. The results showed that efficiency and the task difficulty assessment were highly correlated with the task complexity, while subject’s self reported effort stayed the same for all the tasks regardless of the difficulty. HRV parameters, such as means and standard deviations did not show an interpretable pattern changes, while spectral analysis of R-R intervals showed a decrease in power spectrum for low (0.04-0.15 Hz) and high (0.15-0.4 Hz)frequency bands, as the task difficulty increased. The results suggest that the deterioration in performance in relation to the task difficulty takes place mainly due to lack of subject’s additional effort, each may be the reason for lacking systematic changes in usual parameters. The changes in the R-R power spectrum, however, seem to reflect changes in the task difficulty. If the total effort stays the same throughout the tasks (as results suggested) than changes in the power spectrum could be attributed to the changes in the ratio of mental and motor involvement of the subject in the task. A further analysis of results should show which of the two components (mental or motor) was prevalent in the spectral changes.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Psihologija

POVEZANOST RADA