title: Effects of mental workload on physiological and subjective responses during traffic density monitoring: A field study.
abstract: This study evaluated operators' mental workload while monitoring traffic density in a city traffic control center. To determine the mental workload, physiological signals (ECG, EMG) were recorded and the NASA-Task Load Index (TLX) was administered for 16 operators. The results showed that the operators experienced a larger mental workload during high traffic density than during low traffic density. The traffic control center stressors caused changes in heart rate variability features and EMG amplitude, although the average workload score was significantly higher in HTD conditions than in LTD conditions. The findings indicated that increasing traffic congestion had a significant effect on HR, RMSSD, SDNN, LF/HF ratio, and EMG amplitude. The results suggested that when operators' workload increases, their mental fatigue and stress level increase and their mental health deteriorate. Therefore, it maybe necessary to implement an ergonomic program to manage mental health. Furthermore, by evaluating mental workload, the traffic control center director can organize the center's traffic congestion operators to sustain the appropriate mental workload and improve traffic control management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Hygiene, Faculty of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. Electronic address: mjfllh@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fallahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Ergonomics, School of Health and Research Center for Health Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. Electronic address: motamedzade@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Motamedzade
authors.affiliation: Department of Ergonomics, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Research Center, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. Electronic address: Dr_haidari@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Rashid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heidarimoghadam
authors.affiliation: Modeling of Noncommunicable Diseases Research Center, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. Electronic address: a_sultanian@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ali Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Soltanian
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of Occupational & Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishiku, Kitakyushu 807-8555, Japan. Electronic address: myk@health.uoeh-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyake
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001336:Automobiles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000523:psychology; D004576:Electromyography / Q000523:psychology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology
keywords: ECG; EMG; Mental workload; NASA-TLX; Traffic control center