Dynamics in typewriting performance reflect mental fatigue during real-life office work

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Mental fatigue is linked to decreased performance in various settings.
• Monitoring mental fatigue in real-world work environments is challenging.
• Objective, unobtrusive methods are needed to track fatigue in the workplace.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a method for monitoring mental fatigue in an office setting.
• To analyze changes in typewriting dynamics over time (task duration, time of day, day of week).
• To investigate the relationship between typing behavior and mental fatigue.

Main Methods:

• Recorded typewriting performance of university employees over six weeks.
• Analyzed typing speed, error rates, and error correction patterns.
• Examined typing dynamics across different time scales: time-on-task, time-of-day, and day-of-week.

Main Results:

• Typewriting markers indicate behavioral changes associated with mental fatigue.
• Initially, workers prioritize speed over accuracy, leading to more errors.
• Typing speed and accuracy decline as the day progresses.
• Typing strategy varies by day: speed favored on Mondays/Fridays, accuracy on other days.
• No cumulative fatigue observed across workdays, suggesting daily recovery.

Conclusions:

• Typewriting dynamics offer a viable method for unobtrusively monitoring mental fatigue in offices.
• Office workers adjust typing strategies in response to mental fatigue.
• Workers appear to recover from daily work demands, preventing cumulative fatigue buildup.