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Published on: August 8, 2019
Measurement and scaling of workload in complex performance
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine
|April 1, 1979
Summary
This study developed a workload index using psychological scaling on complex tasks. Performance declined with increased task combinations, indicating higher workload.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Human Factors Engineering
- Performance Measurement
Background:
- Assessing human workload is crucial in complex task environments.
- Existing methods may not adequately quantify workload across diverse task combinations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a quantitative workload index.
- To evaluate performance variations under different task-combination conditions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the CAMI Multiple Task Performance Battery with six tasks.
- Applied Thurstone Case V scaling to monitoring data (response times).
- Inferred workload based on performance decline across single and combined tasks.
Main Results:
- All 12 performance measures varied significantly with task combinations.
- Workload index showed consistency across participant groups and testing days (r's 0.947-0.993).
- Single-task performance indicated the lowest workload (scale value 0).
Conclusions:
- The developed scaling procedure effectively quantifies workload.
- Workload increases with task complexity and concurrency.
- The method shows promise for quantitative workload assessment in research settings with sufficient sample sizes.
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