Measuring cognitive workload in the nuclear control room: a review
Open accessAbstract
Despite the substantial literature and human factors guidance, evaluators report challenges in selecting cognitive workload measures for the evaluation of complex human-technology systems. A review of 32 articles found that self-report measures and secondary tasks were systematically sensitive to human-system interface conditions and correlated with physiological measures. Therefore, including a self-report measure of cognitive workload is recommended when evaluating human-system interfaces. Physiological measures were mainly used in method studies, and future research must demonstrate the utility of these measures for human-system evaluation in complex work settings. However, indexes of physiological measures showed promise for cognitive workload assessment. The review revealed a limited focus on the measurement of excessive cognitive workload, although this is a key topic in nuclear process control. To support human-system evaluation of adequate cognitive workload, future research on behavioural measures may be useful in the identification and analysis of underload and overload.
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In medical education, nonspecialists who stand to benefit most from AI support are simultaneously those most susceptible to over-reliance.
“In medical education, nonspecialists who stand to benefit most from AI support are simultaneously those most susceptible to over-reliance 32,33 .”
From AI-induced never-skilling in medical education (2026) · cites this paper as [32]
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AI-induced never-skilling in medical education
Ke, Y., Jin, L., Ong, J. C. L., Thirunavukarasu, A. J., Car, J., Cheung, C. Y., Tham, Y. C., Ting, D. S. W., Ong, M. E. H., Compton, S., et al. (2026) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04438-y · Cited by 35 · see citing works
- Authors
- Braarud, P. Ø.
- Affiliations
- Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Braarud, Per Øivind
- ORCID
- Braarud, Per Øivind
- Venue
- Ergonomics
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2024-01-26
- Volume
- 67
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 849-865
- ISSN
- 0014-0139 (ISSN-L)
- 1366-5847
- OpenAlex
- W4391280629
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1
- FWCI
- 0.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Ergonomics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency
- Halden Human Technology-Organisation (HTO) Project, Norway
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Human-Automation Interaction and Safety
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Usability and User Interface Design
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Ergonomics and Human Factors
- Keywords
- mental workload, human-system interface, self-report measures, secondary task performance, physiological measures, human factors evaluation
- MeSH terms
- Cognition, Humans, Ergonomics, Man-Machine Systems, Task Performance and Analysis, Workload, Nuclear Power Plants, Self Report
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