Towards more accessible physiological data for assessment of cognitive load - a validation study

Cognitive load is an often-discussed important topic with regards to human performance. Currently, many psychophysiological measures are used to quantify the level of perceived cognitive load under different tasks and environments. Heart rate (HR) is reported in literature as one of the physiological parameters that is influenced by varying cognitive load levels. Electrocardiography (ECG) is the gold-standard measure of HR measurement, however the use of traditional ECG measurement systems limits the applicability of the system to a lab environment. Recent advancements in wearable devices have provided a step towards bringing the physiological signal based human performance measuring system into real-world applications. In this study we are investigating the usability of the Polar OH1, a HR monitoring device initially used for the purpose of physical activity monitoring to use in an arithmetic cognitive load task. With a study carried out with a dataset of 10 subjects, we are able to conclude that the Polar OH1 can be used in place of ECG monitored HR, at varying cognitive load levels.