title: Individual differences in cardiorespiratory measures of mental workload: An investigation of negative affectivity and cognitive avoidant coping in pilot candidates.
abstract: Cardiorespiratory measures provide useful information in addition to well-established self-report measures when monitoring operator capacity. The purpose of our study was to refine the assessment of operator load by considering individual differences in personality and their associations with cardiorespiratory activation. Physiological and self-report measures were analyzed in 115 pilot candidates at rest and while performing a multiple task covering perceptual speed, spatial orientation, and working memory. In the total sample and particularly in individuals with a general tendency to worry a lot, a cognitive avoidant coping style was associated with a smaller task-related increase in heart rate. Negative affectivity was found to moderate the association between cardiac and self-reported arousal. Given that physiological and self-report measures of mental workload are usually combined when evaluating operator load (e.g., in pilot selection and training), our findings suggest that integrating individual differences may reduce unexplained variance and increase the validity of workload assessments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aviation and Space Psychology, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Sportallee 54a, 22335 Hamburg, Germany; Research Group on Health Psychology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: mariel.grassmann@ppw.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Mariel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grassmann
authors.affiliation: Research Group on Health Psychology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: elke.vlemincx@ppw.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vlemincx
authors.affiliation: Research Group on Health Psychology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: andreas.vonleupoldt@ppw.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: von Leupoldt
authors.affiliation: Research Group on Health Psychology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: omer.vandenbergh@ppw.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Van den Bergh
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000075384:Neuroticism; D010313:Partial Pressure; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D000070356:Pilots / Q000523:psychology*; D056152:Respiratory Rate; D057566:Self Report; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: Cardiorespiratory reactivity; Individual differences; Mental workload