Estimating mental fatigue based on multichannel linear descriptors analysis

Abstract

In this paper, two different mental fatigue experiments, sleep deprivation and prolonged time of work, were designed to investigate their effect on mental fatigue respectively. Three parameters of multichannel linear descriptors i.e. Ω, Φ and Σ are used to measure the level of mental fatigue for the first time. When mental fatigue level increases, the brain neurons are restrained, this results in the increase of synchrony degree between the distributed electroencephalogram (EEG). Therefore, spatial complexity Si, field strength I and field changes Φ of regional brain region would reduce. The experimental results also show that the average values of Ω, Φ and Σ of EEG decrease with the prolonging of sleep deprivation and working time, and then also decrease with the increase of mental fatigue level. The average values of Ω, Φ and Σ of EEG strongly correlate with mental fatigue. The multichannel linear descriptors of EEG are expected to serve as the indexes to evaluate mental fatigue level objectively. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.