Qin, Y and Bulbul, T (2023) An EEG-based mental workload evaluation for ar head-mounted display use in construction assembly tasks. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 149(9): 04023088, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Augmented reality (AR) has become one of the most pervasive technologies for immersive applications with potential to improve worker performance in construction. However, the cognitive impact of using AR is still being studied and a comprehensive assessment of changes on user's cognitive status is needed. This study proposed an electroencephalogram (EEG)-based mental workload evaluation method for a wood frame assembly, comparing the differences between two information display types (conformal model and paper layout). Additionally, a task performance analysis was conducted for completion rate and accuracy. The experiment recruited thirty construction students with similar backgrounds who were novice AR users. The findings indicated that AR improved the assembling efficiency with significantly higher completion (p<0.001) in comparison to the paper display. Furthermore, both mean and maximum values during the task process were analyzed to compare the difference between the displays, where AR display generated significantly less mental work in mean (p=0.007) and maximal (p=0.030) values. The comparison of the changing trends of mental workload increment in assembly revealed that AR display maintained lower mental workload and smaller fluctuation (standard deviation) during the entire assembly. The outcomes examined the usability of AR head-mounted display (HMD) in the construction assembly task with a moment-to-moment physiological evaluation of user's mental workload. This work shows that EEG-based mental workload evaluation can be used as an effective method for revealing changes in workers' mental status in real time during assembly, which has implications for future research in areas such as hazard recognition and situational awareness evaluation.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | augmented reality; electroencephalogram; mental workload; wood frame assembly |
| Index terms: | wood, deviation, efficiency, performance analysis, real time, usability, workload, accuracy, experiment, construction assembly, augmented reality |
| Subjects: | professional development, performance management, traditional and composite building materials, structural engineering, management, project controls, user-centered design, data collection methods, financial and cost management, data analysis and analytics, visualization |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Digital Applications, Human Resources, Quality Management, Time Control, Cost Management, Research Practice, Construction Materials, Engineering Principles, Information Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here