Using Multimodal Methods and Machine Learning to Recognize Mental Workload: Distinguishing Between Underload, Moderate Load, and Overload

  • Zebin JIANG
  • , Xinyan LI
  • , Liezhong GE
  • , Jie XU
  • , Yandi LU
  • , Yijing ZHANG*
  • , Ming MAO*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Mental workload recognition is of great significance in preventing human errors and accidents. This study constructed a multimodal recognition scheme to recognize three mental workload states: underload, moderate load, and overload. Based on driving scenarios, these three states were induced in this study by changing the driving modes and situations. Multimodal recognition of underload, moderate load, and overload was performed using electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), and pupillometry. In addition, various machine learning methods were used to evaluate the recognition performance of different feature combinations. The results showed that the random forest method, trained using spectral power, pupil diameter, and heart rate variability, achieved the highest recognition accuracy of 83.13% for the three mental workload states. This study provides valuable reference information for multimodal recognition of mental workload states.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4742-4758
Number of pages17
JournalInternational Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
Volume41
Issue number8
Early online date20 May 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2025
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Funding

This research was generously funded by the 74th Postdoctoral General Project of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2023M743062). Additionally, support was received from the Humanity and Social Science Youth Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 23YJC190038).

Keywords

  • driving simulation
  • machine learning
  • Mental workload
  • multimodal measures
  • workload recognition

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