Application of Chaotic Dynamics in EEG to Assessment of Mental Workload

Atsuo MURATA  Hirokazu IWASE  

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information and Systems   Vol.E84-D    No.8    pp.1112-1119
Publication Date: 2001/08/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 
Print ISSN: 0916-8532
Type of Manuscript: PAPER
Category: Medical Engineering
Keyword: 
mental workload,  EEG,  largest Lyapunov exponent,  fractal dimension,  attractor plot,  

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Summary: 
In this paper, an attempt was made to evaluate mental workload using chaotic analysis of EEG. EEG signals registered from Fz and Cz during a mental task (mental addition) were recorded and analyzed using attractor plots, fractal dimensions, and Lyapunov exponents in order to clarify chaotic dynamics and to investigate whether mental workload can be assessed using these chaotic measures. The largest Lyapunov exponent for all experimental conditions took positive values, which indicated chaotic dynamics in the EEG signals. However, we could not evaluate mental workload using the largest Lyapunov exponent or attractor plot. The fractal dimension, on the other hand, tended to increase with the work level. We concluded that the fractal dimension might be used to evaluate a mental state, especially a mental workload induced by mental task loading.

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