%P 1522-1525
%T Optimizing Mental Workload by Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Based Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment
%V 2018-J
%I Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
%A W.C. Ung
%A F. Meriaudeau
%A T.B. Tang
%O cited By 4; Conference of 40th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC 2018 ; Conference Date: 18 July 2018 Through 21 July 2018; Conference Code:141674
%L scholars9838
%J Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS
%D 2018
%R 10.1109/EMBC.2018.8512501
%X Gains of cognitive training may be eliminated due to mental fatigue. This paper reports the design and implementation of a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) - dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) system. A total of 25 healthy volunteers underwent two training sessions - one with fixed difficulty level of training (FDT) and one with neurofeedback training (NFT) using our fNIRS-DDA system. The workload in each training session was assessed using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). Whilst sustaining mental task performance, the drop in oxygenation level observed in NFT subjects might indicate mental fatigue as they received higher NASA-TLX scores, especially in both mental demand and frustration subscales. In contrast, the oxygenation levels remained almost constant by NFT subjects throughout the experiment. This suggests that the proposed fNIRS-DDA system aided the participants in avoiding mental fatigue. Future studies will investigate if the system may prevent the progression of Alzheimer's disease. © 2018 IEEE.
%K dysthymia; human; near infrared spectroscopy; task performance; workload, Humans; Mental Fatigue; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; Task Performance and Analysis; Workload