Assessment of Neurocognitive Processes During Action Sequence Execution Under Varying Demand
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: While prior studies examined performance and mental workload dynamics under varying demand, most did not consider problem-solving tasks which are completed through action sequences similar to activities of daily living. While prior behavioral efforts assessed sequential task performance, none examined human cortical dynamics or suggested a performance assessment method capable of handling problems with several optimal sequence solutions. Therefore, this study is a first step in examining neurocognitive processes using neural markers while proposing to assess action sequence performance via a novel computational approach capturing both sequence optimality and similarity. As individuals completed a problem-solving task under varying demand, each having several optimal solutions, the actions forming the sequence and the electroencephalography (EEG) were collected. The results revealed that enhanced task demand led to performance degradation (reduced optimality and similarity to optimal sequence) and a greater engagement of neurocognitive processes (increased theta and alpha power) underlying mental workload ultimately leading to attenuated cognitive-motor efficiency. The findings suggest that the novel computational approach can evaluate various aspects of sequential performance such as assessing inter-individual strategies when solving the same task. This work has the potential to inform sequential task performance when individuals work alone and in human or human-robot teams.
Institutions: University of Maryland, College Park, Syracuse University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7167793119