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The Use of Information about the Foreseeable Termination of a Prolonged Task to Modulate Time on Task Effects : an ERP-Study

Semmler, Carolin (2021) The Use of Information about the Foreseeable Termination of a Prolonged Task to Modulate Time on Task Effects : an ERP-Study.

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Abstract:Prolonged engagement in repetitive and monotonous tasks lead to continuously declining task performance caused by mental fatigue, called Time on Task effects (ToT). Previous literature suggested that awareness of the foreseeable task termination can positively influence mental fatigue and task performance in form of a ‘final spurt effect’ by increasing participants’ motivation. The present study aimed at verifying the use of time-related information in form of a progress bar to decrease mental fatigue and to elicit a final spurt phenomenon at a behavioral and electrophysiological level using event-related potentials and lateralizations (ERPs and ERLs). Mental fatigue was induced in 30 participants using prolonged task performance in a combined Posner cueing-task switching paradigm. Although the self-reports indicated that the progress bar positively affected the participants’ task engagement and motivation, this has not been translated to behavioral and electrophysiological measures except for the ADAN ERL-component. The mixed results might be either because the progress bar was not able to sufficiently modulate ToT effects, or because interacting processes had a significant influence on ToT and final spurt effects. This could include the duration of continuous task performance, the task sets’ variety, learning effects regarding task switching, and the design of the progress bar.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/86130
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