Benefits of Instructed Responding in Manual Assembly Tasks: An ERP Approach

The majority of neuroergonomics studies are focused mainly on investigating the interaction between operators and automated systems. Far less attention has been dedicated to the investigation of brain processes in more traditional workplaces, such as manual assembly, which are still ubiquitous in industry. The present study investigates whether assembly workers’ attention can be enhanced if they are instructed with which hand to initiate the assembly operation, as opposed to the case when they can commence the operation with whichever hand they prefer. For this aim, we replicated a specific workplace, where 17 participants in the study simulated a manual assembly operation of the rubber hoses that are used in vehicle hydraulic brake systems, while wearing wireless electroencephalography (EEG). The specific EEG feature of interest for this study was the P300 components’ amplitude of the event-related potential (ERP), as it has previously been shown that it is positively related to human attention. The behavioral attention-related modality of reaction times (RTs) was also recorded. Participants were presented with two distinct tasks during the simulated operation, which were counterbalanced across participants. In the first task, digits were used as indicators for the operation initiation (Numbers task), where participants could freely choose with which hand they would commence the action upon seeing the digit. In the second task, participants were presented with arrows, which served as instructed operation initiators (Arrows task), and they were instructed to start each operation with the hand that corresponded to the arrow direction. The results of this study showed that the P300 amplitude was significantly higher in the instructed condition. Interestingly, the RTs did not differ across any task conditions. This, together with the other findings of this study, suggests that attention levels can be increased using instructed responses without compromising work performance or operators’ well-being, paving the way for future applications in manual assembly task design.

[1]  Martin Eimer,et al.  Covert manual response preparation triggers attentional shifts: ERP evidence for the premotor theory of attention , 2005, Neuropsychologia.

[2]  Piotr Jaskowski,et al.  Evidence for an Integrative Role of P3b in Linking Reaction to Perception , 2005 .

[3]  Joel S. Warm,et al.  Vigilance Requires Hard Mental Work and Is Stressful , 2008, Hum. Factors.

[4]  J. Ford,et al.  The relationship between P300 amplitude and regional gray matter volumes depends upon the attentional system engaged. , 1994, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[5]  R. Heuser.  Surprise, surprise , 2014, Catheterization and cardiovascular interventions : official journal of the Society for Cardiac Angiography & Interventions.

[6]  Miroslav Minovic,et al.  Towards Creation of Implicit HCI Model for Prediction and Prevention of Operators' Error , 2015, HCI.

[7]  Sotiris Makris,et al.  Automotive assembly technologies review: challenges and outlook for a flexible and adaptive approach , 2010 .

[8]  Frank Biocca,et al.  Comparative effectiveness of augmented reality in object assembly , 2003, CHI '03.

[9]  Sabine Van Huffel,et al.  Removal of Muscle Artifacts from EEG Recordings of Spoken Language Production , 2010, Neuroinformatics.

[10]  R. Parasuraman,et al.  Continuous monitoring of brain dynamics with functional near infrared spectroscopy as a tool for neuroergonomic research: empirical examples and a technological development , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[11]  I. Robertson,et al.  `Oops!': Performance correlates of everyday attentional failures in traumatic brain injured and normal subjects , 1997, Neuropsychologia.

[12]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Space and selective attention , 1994 .

[13]  Thomas W. Hoyes,et al.  Workload variation, intrinsic risk and utility in a simulated air traffic control task: Evidence for compensatory effects , 1996 .

[14]  Arnaud Delorme,et al.  EEGLAB: an open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis , 2004, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[15]  Joel S. Warm,et al.  Cerebral Hemodynamics and Vigilance , 2006, Neuroergonomics.

[16]  Hasan Ayaz,et al.  Cognitive Workload Assessment of Air Traffic Controllers Using Optical Brain Imaging Sensors , 2010 .

[17]  Glenn F. Wilson,et al.  Putting the Brain to Work: Neuroergonomics Past, Present, and Future , 2008, Hum. Factors.

[18]  Christian Kothe,et al.  Towards passive brain–computer interfaces: applying brain–computer interface technology to human–machine systems in general , 2011, Journal of neural engineering.

[19]  T W Picton,et al.  The P300 Wave of the Human Event‐Related Potential , 1992, Journal of clinical neurophysiology : official publication of the American Electroencephalographic Society.

[20]  Daniel Strüber,et al.  P300 and slow wave from oddball and single-stimulus visual tasks: inter-stimulus interval effects. , 2002, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[21]  Raja Parasuraman,et al.  Neuroergonomics: Research and practice , 2003 .

[22]  Martin Braun,et al.  Human Factors in Manufacturing , 2012 .

[23]  Rolf Verleger,et al.  The hard oddball: effects of difficult response selection on stimulus-related P3 and on response-related negative potentials. , 2014, Psychophysiology.

[24]  Andreas Bulling,et al.  Cognition-Aware Computing , 2014, IEEE Pervasive Computing.

[25]  Michael G. H. Coles,et al.  Advances in psychophysiology : a research annual , 1985 .

[26]  Ranjana K. Mehta,et al.  Neuroergonomics: a review of applications to physical and cognitive work , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[27]  Geert J. M. van Boxtel,et al.  The N2 in go/no-go tasks reflects conflict monitoring not response inhibition , 2004, Brain and Cognition.

[28]  Marina Schmid,et al.  An Introduction To The Event Related Potential Technique , 2016 .

[29]  Stanislas Dehaene,et al.  Neural mechanisms of attentional shifts due to irrelevant spatial and numerical cues , 2009, Neuropsychologia.

[30]  Daniel P Ferris,et al.  Imaging natural cognition in action. , 2014, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[31]  Fabien Lotte,et al.  Brain-Computer Interfaces: Beyond Medical Applications , 2012, Computer.

[32]  Hasan Ayaz,et al.  Optical brain monitoring for operator training and mental workload assessment , 2012, NeuroImage.

[33]  S. Debener,et al.  How about taking a low-cost, small, and wireless EEG for a walk? , 2012, Psychophysiology.

[34]  Julien Penders,et al.  Wearable, Wireless EEG Solutions in Daily Life Applications: What are we Missing? , 2015, IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics.

[35]  Paul C. Schutte,et al.  Human automation interaction , 2018 .

[36]  Kelvin S. Oie,et al.  Cognition in action: imaging brain/body dynamics in mobile humans , 2011, Reviews in the neurosciences.

[37]  Waldemar Karwowski,et al.  Advances in Understanding Human Performance : Neuroergonomics, Human Factors Design, and Special Populations , 2010 .

[38]  B. Jeremic,et al.  Do Micro-Breaks Increase the Attention Level of an Assembly Worker? An ERP Study , 2015 .

[39]  Kenneth Kreutz-Delgado,et al.  Hierarchical Event Descriptor (HED) tags for analysis of event-related EEG studies , 2013, 2013 IEEE Global Conference on Signal and Information Processing.

[40]  H. Pashler.  Dual-task interference in simple tasks: data and theory. , 1994, Psychological bulletin.

[41]  Raja Parasuraman,et al.  Event-related brain potentials and human factors research. , 1990 .

[42]  Maarten De Vos,et al.  Towards continuous and real-time attention monitoring at work: reaction time versus brain response , 2017, Ergonomics.

[43]  Raja Parasuraman,et al.  Neuroergonomics , 2011 .

[44]  Raja Parasuraman,et al.  Neuroergonomics: The Brain at Work , 2006 .

[45]  Sven Hoffmann,et al.  Towards the measurement of event-related EEG activity in real-life working environments. , 2014, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[46]  Sabine Van Huffel,et al.  Spatially constrained ICA algorithm with an application in EEG processing , 2011, Signal Process..

[47]  Tom Eichele,et al.  Semi-automatic identification of independent components representing EEG artifact , 2009, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[48]  John J. Foxe,et al.  Neurophysiological markers of alert responding during goal-directed behavior: A high-density electrical mapping study , 2005, NeuroImage.

[49]  Salil H. Patel,et al.  Impact of instructed relevance on the visual ERP. , 2004, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[50]  S. Debener,et al.  Towards a truly mobile auditory brain-computer interface: exploring the P300 to take away. , 2014, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[51]  E. Donchin.  Presidential address, 1980. Surprise!...Surprise? , 1981, Psychophysiology.

[52]  Sonja Stork,et al.  Human cognition in manual assembly: Theories and applications , 2010, Adv. Eng. Informatics.

[53]  J. Polich.  Updating P300: An integrative theory of P3a and P3b , 2007, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[54]  B. K. N. Rao,et al.  An Engineer’s View of Human Error , 1993 .

[55]  Philippe A. Palanque,et al.  Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems , 2014, International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

[56]  J. Polich,et al.  Cognitive and biological determinants of P300: an integrative review , 1995, Biological Psychology.

[57]  Joel S. Warm,et al.  Cerebral Hemodynamics and Vigilance Performance , 2009 .