Using EEG signals to assess workload during memory retrieval in a real-world scenario

Objective. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is gaining popularity as a physiological measure for neuroergonomics in human factor studies because it is objective, less prone to bias, and capable of assessing the dynamics of cognitive states. This study investigated the associations between memory workload and EEG during participants' typical office tasks on a single-monitor and dual-monitor arrangement. We expect a higher memory workload for the single-monitor arrangement. Approach. We designed an experiment that mimics the scenario of a subject performing some office work and examined whether the subjects experienced various levels of memory workload in two different office setups: (1) a single-monitor setup and (2) a dual-monitor setup. We used EEG band power, mutual information, and coherence as features to train machine learning models to classify high versus low memory workload states. Main results. The study results showed that these characteristics exhibited significant differences that were consistent across all participants. We also verified the robustness and consistency of these EEG signatures in a different data set collected during a Sternberg task in a prior study. Significance. The study found the EEG correlates of memory workload across individuals, demonstrating the effectiveness of using EEG analysis in conducting real-world neuroergonomic studies.