A Research on the Interruption Effect of Light Assembly Operation Based on Near Infrared Optical Brain Imaging Experiment

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1007-7375.2019.03.008

Abstract

Abstract: More and more enterprises are faced with the problems that production tasks are often complex and changeable, and random disturbances increase dramatically during production, which leads to frequent work interruption. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the changes of operators' performance and cognitive load in the case of work interruption. A Lego-light assembly experiment was carried out under interruption mixed with different degrees of complexity and similarity. 24 undergraduates participated in the experiment. Each subject was randomly assigned to five different groups of assembly tasks (non-interruption, similar-simple, complex-similar, simple-dissimilar, and complex-dissimilar). During the experiment, the operators' completion time and error rate were recorded. Meanwhile, the changes of oxygen hemoglobin concentration in the left and right brain prefrontal of operators were monitored with the use of near-infrared spectroscopy device. The results show that the complexity of interruption tasks has no effect on the brain cognitive load and performance of operators, but similar interruptions impair operators' performance, and dissimilar interruptions increase operators' cognitive load. The study finds the allocation of attention resources in the brain when operators were interrupted, and develops the working memory theory in the process of attention focus conversion of the action skill task, which guides light assembly companies to formulate interrupt management strategies rationally, improve production efficiency, and reduce operator cognitive load to achieve sustainable and efficient production.

Key words: work interruption, near-infrared spectroscopy, cognitive load, light assembly line

CLC Number:

HAN Wenmin, HUANG Jingsong, WU Jun, XIA Huajie, ZHANG Lulu. A Research on the Interruption Effect of Light Assembly Operation Based on Near Infrared Optical Brain Imaging Experiment[J]. Industrial Engineering Journal , 2019, 22(3): 57-64.

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