Effects of Mental Workload Manipulation on Electroencephalography Spectrum Oscillation and Microstates in Multitasking Environments

Abstract

Introduction: Multitasking during flights leads to a high mental workload, which is detrimental for maintaining task performance. Electroencephalography (EEG) power spectral analysis based on frequency-band oscillations and microstate analysis based on global brain network activation can be used to evaluate mental workload. This study explored the effects of a high mental workload during simulated flight multitasking on EEG frequency-band power and microstate parameters. Methods: Thirty-six participants performed multitasking with low and high mental workloads after 4 consecutive days of training. Two levels of mental workload were set by varying the number of subtasks. EEG signals were acquired during the task. Power spectral and microstate analyses were performed on the EEG. The indices of four frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, and beta) and four microstate classes (A–D) were calculated, changes in the frequency-band power and microstate parameters under different mental workloads were compared, and the relationships between the two types of EEG indices were analyzed. Results: The theta-, alpha-, and beta-band powers were higher under the high than under the low mental workload condition. Compared with the low mental workload condition, the high mental workload condition had a lower global explained variance and time parameters of microstate B but higher time parameters of microstate D. Less frequent transitions between microstates A and B and more frequent transitions between microstates C and D were observed during high mental workload conditions. The time parameters of microstate B were positively correlated with the delta-, theta-, and beta-band powers, whereas the duration of microstate C was negatively correlated with the beta-band power. Conclusion: EEG frequency-band power and microstate parameters can be used to detect a high mental workload. Power spectral analyses based on frequency-band oscillations and microstate analyses based on global brain network activation were not completely isolated during multitasking.