Studying the impact of interruptions on attentional and working memory performance in younger and older adults by means of the EEG

通过脑电图研究中断对年轻人和老年人注意力和工作记忆表现的影响

• 批准号: 458108186
• 负责人: Dr. Daniel Schneider
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Forschungsbereich Ergonomie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/458108186?language=en
• 关键词: Studying; impact; interruptions; attentional; working

Interruptions in a cognitive task are among the most stressful factors in modern working environments. A better understanding of the neurocognitive basis for processing interruptions is therefore of great importance from a psychological and ergonomic perspective. Interruptions are characterized by a temporary suspension of a primary task, which is accompanied by the processing of a secondary task. From a cognitive-psychological point of view, a change of the focus of attention within working memory between a primary task and the interruption task is therefore necessary. The current research project thus focuses on the investigation of correlates of working memory processes in the context of interruptions, as measured by electroencephalography (EEG). Furthermore, a comparison between younger (18-30 years) and older subjects (55-70 years), based on known age-related deficits in attentional control functions, will provide more precise information about the relevance of these processes in the processing of interruptions. In all planned experiments, a visual working memory task will be interrupted by a secondary task in a random sequence. Since only the primary task is based on the lateral presentation of visual stimuli, hemispheric asymmetries in the EEG signal (e.g. in the power of oscillations in the alpha frequency range - 8-14 Hz) can be clearly assigned to the processing of the primary task due to the contralateral organization of the visual system. Furthermore, modulations of fronto-central theta power (4-7 Hz) are used as correlates of executive control processes when switching between primary and interruption tasks. The first three experiments focus on the investigation of working memory processes in the context of interruptions and their interaction with known task-specific influencing factors (similarity of primary and interruption task; temporal flexibility when resuming the primary task; possibility to prepare for the interruption). The importance of attentional and executive cognitive functions in the processing of interruptions and related experimental effects should become increasingly apparent at an older age, when these functions are typically impaired. Finally, in the fourth experiment an experimental paradigm is used that is oriented on a real work situation in a hospital (a working memory task requiring the assignment of tablets to patient names). The results obtained therefore offer a higher ecological validity and thus increase the relevance of the findings obtained in the overall project for operational practice.

在现代工作环境中，认知任务的中断是压力最大的因素之一。因此，从心理学和人体工程学的角度更好地理解处理中断的神经认知基础是非常重要的。中断的特征是主要任务的临时挂起，这伴随着次要任务的处理。因此，从认知心理学的角度来看，工作记忆中的注意焦点在主要任务和中断任务之间的变化是必要的。因此，目前的研究项目集中在通过脑电(EEG)测量的中断背景下工作记忆过程的相关性的调查。此外，根据已知的与年龄相关的注意控制功能缺陷，在年轻受试者(18-30岁)和老年受试者(55-70岁)之间进行比较，将提供关于这些过程在中断处理中的相关性的更准确的信息。在所有有计划的实验中，视觉工作记忆任务将被随机序列中的次要任务打断。由于只有主要任务是基于视觉刺激的横向呈现的，因此由于视觉系统的对侧组织，EEG信号中的半球不对称性(例如，在阿尔法频率范围-8-14赫兹的振荡的功率中)可以清楚地分配给主要任务的处理。此外，当在主任务和中断任务之间切换时，前额-中央theta功率(4-7赫兹)的调制被用作执行控制过程的相关因素。前三个实验着重考察了中断背景下的工作记忆过程及其与已知任务特定影响因素(主任务和中断任务的相似性；恢复主任务时的时间灵活性；为中断做准备的可能性)之间的交互作用。注意和执行认知功能在处理干扰和相关实验效应的过程中的重要性应该在年龄较大时变得越来越明显，此时这些功能通常会受到损害。最后，在第四个实验中，使用了一个针对医院真实工作情况的实验范式(一种需要将平板电脑分配给患者姓名的工作记忆任务)。因此，所获得的结果提供了更高的生态有效性，从而增加了在整个项目中所获得的结果与业务实践的相关性。