The key in understanding mental workload 🧠 | May 2022.

Our brain still holds many secrets, both in its functioning and in its normal development 🤫

Thanks to the latest neurosciences techniques and tools, it is now possible to measure and interpret brain activity into
mental states 🧠

By combining measurements on specific brain areas, we, at myBrain Technologies, defined Neuromarkers.

We have already validated Neuromarkers characterizing emotions, relaxation, attention and mental workload, with more to come 🚀

Each of us is faced with mental workload in our daily lives. You’ll see that the assessment of mental workload is the most important factor in understanding performance 🎯

The rapid proliferation of portable devices has transformed the way we live. We are all constantly multitasking, texting, emailing, downloading, navigating, whilst engaging with our other daily activities. The general increase
in productivity can have effects on our long term attention, vigilance, sleep and overall wellness. Monitoring our mental workload is going to be a key factor in understanding the human brain in relation to performance at work and everyday settings.

Assessment of mental workload can be
obtained with two EEG electrodes and can be implemented into a compact, wearable device for on-line monitoring of brain state in both
field and clinical settings. It can be used as a first-stage diagnostic tool and follow-up
measure of the overall functional state of the brain. This enables the study of the effects of various stressors on brain physiology in both daily life and at work.

It has been shown that multitasking requires contributions from prefrontal cortical regions
that control attention functions. The frontal theta/parietal alpha ratio increases both with growing task demands and time spent awake. These prefrontal regions are also susceptible to sleep restriction. The lack of sleep results in a nonoptimal physiological state for performing challenging tasks.

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MONITORING OUR MENTAL WORKLOAD
IS GOING TO BE A KEY FACTOR IN UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN BRAIN.

In industries that require high vigilance in life
or death situations such as aeronautics, new technologies are developed to limit cognitive overload, brain fatigue and decreased vigilance. We are all pilots in the cockpits of
our life so this applies to all of us.

Learn more about mental workload:

Cegarra & al. (2017)
Fournier & al. (1999)
Berka & al. (2007)
Young & al. (2014)
Xie & Salvendy (2000)
Parasuraman (2011)