Whither Workload? Mapping a Path for Its Future Development

• Published in: Human Mental Workload: Models and Applications Vol. 726; pp. 3 - 17
• Main Author: Hancock, P. A.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Springer International Publishing AG 2017; Springer International Publishing
• Series: Communications in Computer and Information Science
• Subjects: Cognitive workload; Future challenges; Neuropsychological assessment
• ISBN: 3319610600; 9783319610603
• ISSN: 1865-0929; 1865-0937
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-61061-0_1

I present a number of looming barriers to a smooth path of progress for cognitive workload assessment. The first of these is the AID’s of workload (i.e., association, indifference, and dissociation) between its various reflections (i.e., subjective, physiological, and performance measures). The second is the manner in which the time-varying change in imposed task demand links to the workload response, and what specific characteristics of the former drive the latter. The third is the persistent but largely unaddressed issue of the meaningfulness of the work undertaken. Thus, does interesting and involving work result in lower workload and vice-versa? If these foregoing and predominantly methodological concerns can be overcome, then the utility of the workload construct can continue to grow. If they cannot be resolved then workload assessment threatens to be ineffective in a world which desperately requires a valid and reliable way to index cognitive achievement.