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A human navigator attempts to handle the ship for safe navigation by judging navigational information on own ship’s condition, targets and current‐wind effects. He/she has the responsibility of human lives and the economic values to judge. The human navigator maintains high mental workload during the navigational watch keeping. Therefore, we need to develop a support system to reduce the mental workload with human‐system cooperation based on the navigator’s KANSEI, and we must research an index to assess the mental workload for the first step, as the research on the KANSEI of ship’s navigator is not yet available in the world. In addition we depend on the professional’s experience for the assessment. The purpose of this paper is to find characteristics of the mental workload using heart rate variability. The experiment is carried out in six types of sea area on the west side of Japan. The subject is the chief officer of a training ship at Kobe University.

The presentation of in-vehicle warnings information at risky driving scenarios is aimed to improve the collision avoidance ability of drivers. Existing studies have found that driver’s collision avoidance performance is affected by both warning information and driver’s workload. However, whether moderation and mediation effects exist among warning information, driver’s cognition, behavior and risky avoidance performance is unclear.

This purpose of this study is to examine whether the warning information type modifies the relationship between the forward collision risk and collision avoidance behavior. A driving simulator experiment was conducted with waring and command information.

Results of 30 participants indicated that command information improves collision avoidance behavior more than notification warning under the forward collision risky driving scenario. The primary reason for this is that collision avoidance behavior can be negatively affected by the forward collision risk. At the same time, command information can weaken this negative effect. Moreover, improved collision avoidance behavior can be achieved through increasing drivers’ mental workload.

The proposed model provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing collision avoidance behavior, thus contributing to improved in-vehicle information system design.

The significant moderation effects evoke the fact that information types and mental workloads are critical in improving drivers’ collision avoidance ability. Through further calibration with larger sample size, the proposed structural model can be used to predict the effect of in-vehicle warnings in different risky driving scenarios.

In this chapter, we review empirical research evidence on the relationship between stressors and catecholamines (i.e., adrenaline and noradrenaline) and cortisol. With respect to acute stressors, both laboratory and field research have shown that the exposure to stressors leads to an increase in catecholamine and cortisol levels. With respect to more chronic stressors, research evidence is less consistent. Chronic mental workload was found to be related to elevated adrenaline levels. With respect to cortisol responses the interaction between workload and other variables seems to play a role. Empirical studies suggest that chronic stressors affect the responsivity to acute stressors. Research showed that after the exposure to stressors catecholamine and cortisol recovery is delayed.

Research findings are ambiguous regarding the effects of age on sustainable labour participation (SLP), defined as the extent to which people are able and willing to conduct their current and future work. The purpose of this paper is to contribute by examining age effects on SLP by focusing on the moderating role of workload.

A mixed-method study was conducted in 2018. First, a survey was distributed among a sample of 2,149 employees of the Dutch central government. Second, 12 interviews with public sector employees took place to gain greater insight into the quantitative data collected.

Three components that reflect an employee’s SLP were studied: vitality, work ability and employability. The quantitative results, in general, showed that SLP decreased with ageing. However, in contrast to the hypothesis, the results showed a significant positive relationship between age and energy. Moreover, relationships between an employee’s age and certain aspects of their SLP were moderated by workload. The interviews helped to interpret these results.

The findings demonstrate that some of the older worker stereotypes are unfounded, and the important practical implications of these are discussed.

Earlier research has produced conflicting findings regarding the relationship between age and (aspects of) SLP. By investigating several aspects of SLP in separate regressions within this research, the specific influences of age have become clearer. Furthermore, the research provides fresh insights into the relationship between age and SLP by including moderating effects of workload.

This study explores the effects of cognitive load on the propensity to reformulate queries during information seeking on the web.

This study employs an experimental design to analyze the effect of manipulations of cognitive load on the propensity for query reformulation between experimental and control groups. In total, three affective components that contribute to cognitive load were manipulated: mental demand, temporal demand and frustration.

A significant difference in the propensity of query reformulation behavior was found between searchers exposed to cognitive load manipulations and searchers who were not exposed. Those exposed to cognitive load manipulations made half as many search query reformulations as searchers not exposed. Furthermore, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) cognitive load scores of searchers who were exposed to the three cognitive load manipulations were higher than those of searchers who were not exposed indicating that the manipulation was effective. Query reformulation behavior did not differ across task types.

The findings suggest that a dual-task method and NASA-TLX assessment serve as good indicators of cognitive load. Because the findings show that cognitive load hinders a searcher's interaction with information search tools, this study provides empirical support for reducing cognitive load when designing information systems or user interfaces.

Rich, interactive media are becoming extremely common in internet recruitment systems. The paper investigates the role of media richness in applicants’ ability to learn information relevant to making an application decision. The authors examine these relationships in the context of two competing theories, namely media richness theory and cognitive load theory, which predict opposite relationships with information acquisition. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Participants (n=471) either viewed a traditional web site or visited an interactive virtual world that contained information about an organization's culture, benefits, location, and job openings. Culture information was manipulated to either portray a highly teams-oriented culture or a highly individual-oriented culture.

Participants who viewed the low-richness site recalled more factual information about the organization; this effect was mediated by subjective mental workload. Richness was not related to differences in culture-related information acquisition.

These findings suggest that richer media (such as interactive virtual environments) may not be as effective as less rich media in conveying information. Specifically, the interactive elements may detract focus away from the information an organization wishes to portray. This may lead to wasted time on the part of applicants and organizations in the form of under- or over-qualified applications or a failure to follow instructions.

This study is among the first to use a cognitive load theory framework to suggest that richer media may not always achieve their desired effect.

Lao PDR is a developing country with increasing female participation in the informal labour market. However, these informal female workers are often emotionally and physically drained due to stress in the workplace. This study aims to examine the determinants of job stress on physical symptoms associated with the mental health stigma of informal female workers in Lao PDR.

A convergent parallel approach was used with 1,037 structured interviews and 15 in-depth interviews between October 2017 and June 2019. Fractional response regression was used to analyse the quantitative data and thematic analysis to analyse the qualitative data.

The quantitative data showed a positive effect on job stress and physical symptoms associated with mental health stigma. The qualitative data illustrated that job characteristics, work environment, time pressure, job control, complexity related to workload, physical working conditions and physical demand were associated with emotional distress, depressive symptoms and long-term self-stigma.

The study findings provide guidance for developing strategies for female workers in an informal economy to help mitigate the impacts of job stress related to physical symptoms and mental health stigma.

This study offers a deeper understanding of the emotional and physical stress experienced by informal female workers in the workplace in Lao PDR, showing that job stress due to the physical workload leads to mental health stigma.

Air traffic controllers (ATCOs) play a fundamental role in the safe, orderly and efficient management of air traffic. In the interests of improving safety, it would be beneficial to know what the workload thresholds are that permit ATCOs to carry out their functions safely and efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a simulation platform to be able to validate an affective-cognitive performance methodology based on neurophysiological factors applied to ATCOs, to define the said thresholds.

The process followed in setting up the simulation platform is explained, with particular emphasis on the design of the program of exercises. The tools designed to obtain additional information on the actions of ATCOs and how their workload will be evaluated are also explained.

To establish the desired methodology, a series of exercises has been designed to be simulated. This paper describes the project development framework and validates it, taking preliminary results as a reference. The validation of the framework justifies further study to extend the preliminary results.

This paper describes the first part of the project only, i.e. the definition of the problem and a proposed methodology to arrive at a workable solution. Further work will concentrate on carrying out a program of simulations and subsequent detailed analysis of the data obtained, based on the conclusions drawn from the preliminary results presented.

The methodology will be an important tool from the point of view of safety and the work carried out by ATCOs. This first phase is crucial as it provides a solid foundation for later stages.

Despite the importance of cognitive monitoring, limited studies attempted to continuously monitor cognitive status of workers regarding mental fatigue effects on fall hazard. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate and understand the effects of working at height on mental fatigue development for fall hazard prevention.

A quantitative framework using two well-known methods, i.e. Wavelet Packet Decomposition and Sample entropy, is developed to analyze the captured brain signals from Electroencephalography (EEG) to quantitatively assess mental fatigue levels, and seven mental fatigue indices were obtained. Between-subjects lab experiment was designed and conducted to assess mental fatigue in Virtual Reality (VR) environment.

Both of the quantitative methods confirmed that height exposure can adversely affect subjects' vigilance levels and indicated higher levels of mental fatigue. Significant differences were found between the two tested groups (i.e. working at height or on the ground) for six out of seven indices. The results suggested that working-at-height group had higher mental fatigue levels.

One limitation of this study is the limited number of subjects recruited for the experiment. Overall, this study is a preliminary and exploratory work towards mental fatigue monitoring and assessment in subjects exposed to fall risk.

This is the first study to explore and focus on mental fatigue assessment, particularly for construction falling-from-height hazard prevention by continuously monitoring mental fatigue levels of workers. The research provides insight into construction safety enhancement using smart technologies.

Incidents requiring command and control require all personnel from firefighters (FFs) to the incident commander (IC) to make continuous decisions often with limited information and under acute time-pressure. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the stress reactivity of specific roles during the command and control of an immersive, computer-based incident.

Experienced firefighting personnel undergoing incident command training participated in this study. Participants completed measures of state anxiety and stress immediately before and after taking part in a computer-based simulation of a large-scale incident run in real time. During the simulation personnel assumed one of four roles: IC, sector commander, entry control officer (ECO), and command support officer. Following the simulation personnel then completed measures of perceived workload.

No significant changes in state anxiety were observed, but levels of stress and perceived workload were related to task roles. Specifically, ICs reported the greatest levels of mental and temporal demands and stress when compared with ECOs.

Limitations include the lack of environmental factors (such as rain, darkness, and noise), a relatively small sample size, and the use of self-reported questionnaires.

The application of immersive training environments as a method of developing FFs experience of incident command roles and skills pertinent to high-acuity, low-frequency events.

The paper represents one of the first attempts to identify the self-reported anxiety, stress, and perceived workload of specific role demands during the command and control of simulated incidents.