Brainatwork: Logging Cognitive Engagement and Tasks in the Workplace Using Electroencephalography

Hassib, M., Khamis, M. , Friedl, S., Schneegass, S. and Alt, F. (2017) Brainatwork: Logging Cognitive Engagement and Tasks in the Workplace Using Electroencephalography. In: 16th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (MUM '17), Stuttgart, Germany, 26-29 Nov 2017, pp. 305-310. ISBN 9781450353786 (doi: 10.1145/3152832.3152865)

Abstract

Today's workplaces are dynamic and complex. Digital data sources such as email and video conferencing aim to support workers but also add to their burden of multitasking. Psychophysiological sensors such as Electroencephalography (EEG) can provide users with cues about their cognitive state. We introduce BrainAtWork, a workplace engagement and task logger which shows users their cognitive state while working on different tasks. In a lab study with eleven participants working on their own real-world tasks, we gathered 16 hours of EEG and PC logs which were labeled into three classes: central, peripheral and meta work. We evaluated the usability of BrainAtWork via questionnaires and interviews. We investigated the correlations between measured cognitive engagement from EEG and subjective responses from experience sampling probes. Using random forests classification, we show the feasibility of automatically labeling work tasks into work classes. We discuss how BrainAtWork can support workers on the long term through encouraging reflection and helping in task scheduling.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Additional Information: Work on this project was partially funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Science and the Arts in the framework of the Centre Digitisation.Bavaria (ZD.B).
• Keywords: EEG, multitasking, workplace logging.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Khamis, Dr Mohamed
• Authors: Hassib, M., Khamis, M., Friedl, S., Schneegass, S., and Alt, F.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Publisher: ACM
• ISBN: 9781450353786
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia: 305-310
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy