title: A multifaceted investigation of the link between mental fatigue and task disengagement.
abstract: Mental fatigue is often characterized by reduced motivation for effortful activity and impaired task performance. We used subjective, behavioral (performance), and psychophysiological (P3, pupil diameter) measures during an n-back task to investigate the link between mental fatigue and task disengagement. After 2 h, we manipulated the rewards to examine a possible reengagement effect. Analyses showed that, with increasing fatigue and time-on-task, performance, P3 amplitude, and pupil diameter decreased. After increasing the rewards, all measures reverted to higher levels. Multilevel analysis revealed positive correlations between the used measures with time-on-task. We interpret these results as support for a strong link between task disengagement and mental fatigue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jesper F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Hopstaken
authors.forename: Dimitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van der Linden
authors.forename: Arnold B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.forename: Michiel A J
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kompier
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D005222:Mental Fatigue / Q000523:psychology*; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Fatigue; Motivation; P3; Pupil diameter; Task engagement