Can Variability of Brain Activity serve as a Metric for Assessing Human Performance during UAS Dual-Task Training

An Examination of the Effects of Virtual Reality Training on Spatial Visualization and Transfer of Learning

“…In his review of the role of neuroimaging for cognitive load theory, Whelan summarized various fMRI papers indicating that for intrinsic cognitive load, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (right and left) were the primary regions of activation associated with attentional control and working memory [ 59 ] that were critically modulated by cognitive task load and/or task difficulty [ 56 ]. Figure 6 denotes the functions of the relevant regions of the prefrontal cortex that have been associated with the different types of cognitive load.…”

“…The intrinsic load is associated with the performer and task as well as the interaction between them. The functions of the right DLPFC and the left DLPFC (identified in Figure 4 —bottom panel) facilitate the processing of task-relevant information and integrate the processes of attention, short-term memory, retrieval, and decision making [ 42 , 55 , 56 , 60 ]. When Zhu and colleagues assessed the combined impact of galvanic skin response, eye-movement tracking, and EEG with varying arithmetic tasks designed using the NIH cognitive toolbox [ 60 , 61 , 62 ]; they found that frontal brain activation increased monotonically although with varying slopes as the task difficulty or load increased [ 60 ].…”

“…In terms of brain imaging and decoding of cognitive load [ 43 , 56 , 62 ], we posit that transfer is associated with germane cognitive load [ 55 ], which is realized by an activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (see Figure 4 bottom panel and Figure 6 ). The ventromedial prefrontal cortex incorporates the integration of information and allows for multiple items in working memory, which are functions necessary for the facilitation of generalizability or transfer.…”

“… Schematic of Total Cognitive Capacity with Suggested Activation Functions of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC), Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex, Associated Types of Cognitive Load based on Cognitive Load Theory, and Contrast Topographical Maps of the Cohen’s d Effect Sizes Comparing Significant Task Load Comparisons [ 43 , 55 , 56 ]. Adapted graphic [ 46 ].…”