Comparison of Two Instrumental Assessment of Mental Fatigue

Mental fatigue (MF) is considered as a contributor factor in incident, even catastrophic one. Electroencephalography measurement has been the most acceptable method to assess MF by neurologists. However, this method could be hardly feasible in real work setting. Flicker fusion device, by contrast, is more usable at work setting. The purpose of this study was to compare the Critical Flicker Fusion Frequency (CFFF) with Electroencephalograph (EEG) alpha band changes (as indicators of mental fatigue). The study took place in Zanjan (2015) and the participants included 35 volunteer students that passed a three-step experiment protocol: 1) Measuring MF via CFFF and EEGα, 2) Involving the participants with MF-induced tasks, and 3) Re-measuring MF via the same methods. The results showed that differences of MF assessment by EEG (P= 0.001), and CFFF (P= 0.004) were significant. However, the correlation between them was weak (-0.069) and not significant (P= 0.688). The findings of this study confirmed that the flicker fusion apparatus could measure MF as a before-after test. However, the results of CFFF were not correspondence with the results EEGα. Therefore, more studies need to get conclusion about how the results of these instruments may related to each other. Considering other regions or waves of the brain might be promising.