Detecting Users’ Cognitive Load by Galvanic Skin Response with Affective Interference

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nargess Nourbakhsh ◽  
Fang Chen ◽  
Yang Wang ◽  
Rafael A. Calvo
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Galvanic Skin Response ◽  
Skin Response

scholarly journals LO77: Performance enhancing psychological skills in clinical simulation

CJEM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (S1) ◽  
pp. S35-S35
Author(s):  
E. Johannessen ◽  
T. Davies ◽  
A. Valeriano ◽  
E. Blackmore ◽  
A. Belyea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Acute Care ◽  
Galvanic Skin Response ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Psychological Skills ◽  
Spike Density ◽  
Clinical Simulation ◽  
Breathing Exercises ◽  
Skin Response ◽  
Performance Enhancing

Introduction: Clinical simulations in are designed to evoke feelings of stress and uncertainty in order to mimic challenges that learners will face in the real world. When not managed properly, these sources of extraneous cognitive load cause a burden on working memory, leading to a hindered ability to acquire new information. The “Beat the Stress Fool” (BTSF) protocol is a performance-enhancing tool designed to reduce cognitive overload during acute care scenarios. It involves breathing exercises, positive self-talk, visualization, and deliberate articulations. This study aims to validate the BTSF protocol as a method for reducing cognitive load using both psychometric and physiologic measures. Methods: Data collection took place during the Queen's University “Nightmares-FM” course. This clinical simulation program involves team-based scenarios designed to teach the fundamentals of acute care to first-year family medicine residents. Participants were divided equally into experimental and control groups based on pre-existing cohorts. Participants completed a baseline state-trait anxiety inventory and a demographics survey. The experimental group was guided through the BTSF protocol prior to each of 16 simulations; in both groups, physiologic and psychometric cognitive load measurements were collected for the alternating team leader. Galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate (HR) were collected during a 15-second baseline and throughout each simulation using a Shimmer 3 GSR+ wearable sensor. Self-reported cognitive load was assessed after each scenario using the 9-point Paas scale. Results: The mean Paas scores for the BTSF group were significantly lower than the control group (6.2 vs 6.9, p < 0.05), indicating lower subjective cognitive load. GSR signal magnitude (p = 0.086), spike amplitude (p = 0.066), and spike density (p = 0.584) were also lower in the BTSF group. There was no difference in HR between groups. There was not a significant correlation between self-reported cognitive load and the normalized physiologic measures. Conclusion: The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the BTSF protocol in lowering the amount of perceived mental effort required to perform clinical simulation tasks. These findings were mirrored in the galvanic skin response signal, though our study was likely underpowered for significance. This is the first study to validate a proof-of-concept for the BTSF protocol in learners during simulated training.

Measurement of cognitive load for writing tasks using galvanic skin response

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delowar Hossain ◽  
Shah Salimullah ◽  
Abrar Nayeem Chowdhury ◽  
Syed Neshad Hasan ◽  
Erfan Kabir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Galvanic Skin Response ◽  
Skin Response

scholarly journals MP22: Using galvanic skin response to identify resuscitation expertise in a pulmonary embolism simulation exercise

CJEM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (S1) ◽  
pp. S50-S50
Author(s):  
A. Belyea ◽  
N. Cofie ◽  
N. Dalgarno ◽  
E. Bruder
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Pulmonary Embolism ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Galvanic Skin Response ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Simulation Exercise ◽  
Skin Response ◽  
Medical Emergencies ◽  
Level Of Training

Introduction: As physicians gain expertise in clinical settings, they are able to handle progressively more information, in both complexity and magnitude, as an organized schema. Expert physicians then, will be more likely to function with less cognitive load —the amount of mental effort someone exerts within their short-term working memory. Expert physicians will also retain more working memory capacity to process information during medical emergencies than novice physicians. While a physician's ability to process medical information may have implications for handling medical emergencies, there is a paucity of empirical research examining the link between physicians’ expertise and biometric measures of cognitive load. Using galvanic skin response (GSR) as a surrogate measure of cognitive load, we assess whether average cognitive load differs significantly between expert and novice physicians in a pulmonary embolism simulation exercise. Methods: We analyzed GSR data (n = 39) from a 10-minute simulated pulmonary embolism exercise among 18 faculty physicians and 21 residents. Cluster and factor analyses were used to identify novice, intermediate, advanced, and expert physicians with based on participants’ GRS scores. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze group differences. Descriptive statistical techniques were also used to describe the distribution of GRS expertise by participants’ level of training. Results: Contrary to expectation, we found more than two groups of resuscitation expertise in the simulation exercise. Respectively, we identified 7.7% and 20.5% of participants as novice and expert physicians. About 36% of participants were classified as intermediate (35.9%) physicians while another 36% were classified as having an advanced (35.9%) expertise in resuscitation. All the novice physicians identified were found to be PGY1 and PGY2 resident residents. A third (33.3%) of faculty physicians and 9.5% of residents were identified as experts. As expected, average GSR score for experts (x¯ = 0.60μS, SD = 0.26) was significantly (F = 137.6, p < 0.001) lower than the average GSR for novices (x¯ = 5.55μS, SD = 0.99), intermediate (x¯ = 2.84 μS, SD = 0.40), and advanced (x¯ = 1.57 μS, SD = 0.28) physicians. Conclusion: GSR measures of cognitive load may be used to identify resuscitation expertise in managing pulmonary embolism and related medical conditions through simulation exercises.

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