The Index of Cognitive Activity: measuring cognitive workload

Author

Marshall, Sandra P.

Author_Institution

Cognitive Ergonomics Res. Facility, San Diego State Univ., CA, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

2002

Firstpage

42556

Lastpage

42560

Abstract

The Index of Cognitive Activity is an innovative technique that provides an objective psychophysiological measurement of cognitive workload. As users operate in increasingly complex environments, it is essential that the designers of these environments understand the cognitive demands placed on the users. The Index of Cognitive Activity (ICA) provides an important estimate of the levels of cognitive effort of the user. The ICA is based on changes in pupil dilation that occur as a user interacts with a visual display. The Index is described, and several applications are presented.

Keywords

computer displays; human factors; user interfaces; Index of Cognitive Activity; cognitive effort estimation; cognitive science; cognitive workload; cognitive workload measurement; increasingly complex environments; objective psychophysiological measurement; pupil dilation changes; user interfaces; visual display/user interaction; workstation human factors; Displays; Ergonomics; Human factors; Independent component analysis; Problem-solving; Psychology; Sampling methods; User interfaces; Visual system; Workstations;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Human Factors and Power Plants, 2002. Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE 7th Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7450-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HFPP.2002.1042860

Filename

1042860