The effects of an Imposed performance strategy upon subjective mental workload.
Date
1990
Authors
Finucci, Helen Louise.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Abstract
Increasingly complex technology in modarn times has changed the nature
of many work activities. Hechanisation and automation have served to
emphasise the importance of mental workload to productivity, physicaI and
mental health. The study uses a simulated routine office stocktaking task
to compare subject and experiences of mental workload between traditional
pen and paper methods and the more recently developed computer techniques.
An analysis is also made of assessments of difficulty by subjects free
to adopt a working method of their choice (ie. in a flexible environment)
and subjects whohave no freedom of working method (ie. a rigid externally
imposed working strategy). Also included is an analysis of the cognitive
strategies adopted during task performance and across the different
treatmerrt conditions. Research findings are of particular relevance to
the design of jobs in the modern office environment where human-computer
interaction is becoming increasingly prevalent, the effective design of
man-machine systems, and to the genera: field of workload research.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
for the Degree of Master of Arts.
Keywords
Mental work., Work -- Psychological aspects., Human-computer interaction.