Development of operational task to measure working memory as a human factor

Cognitive resources affect not only situational awareness and decision making but also the performance of prescribed procedures because working memory involves the performance of procedure-based behaviors. Especially in extreme situations, such as fire or earthquakes, cognitive capacity may be further reduced, and knowledge-based behaviors of operators may become difficult. Workload refers to the amount of resources required to perform a specific task among the limited processing capacity of the operator. The greater the mental workload, the more cognitive resources are consumed. If the mental workload exceeds the limit of the worker, human error may be induced and performance may be degraded. Two approaches can be used to solve problems associated with workloads. One is to train the working memory of individuals, and another is to support cognitive performance using the system (e.g., display). Both approaches require the method to measure the workload. This study examines how to apply the working memory task to operational task for the MCR. That is, we develop a method to measure working memory related to tasks or numerical values in the MCR while processing operational tasks.