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Using heart rate variability to assess performance
Daniel S. Quintana, PhDNorwegian Center for Mental Disorders Research
University of Oslo
Stress, fatigue, and mental workload exert a significant influence on the quality of operator performance.
Hancock & Desmond (2001)
Stress, fatigue, and mental workload can be measured by subjective measures or physiology.
Measuring physiology to assess operator performance• EEG and fMRI can be used to assess performance
• But they’re expensive and impractical for real-world assessment
Mental effort and stress are related to changes in cardiovascular state
The autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary actions in the body
Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve modulates changes in HRV
PNS SNS
65BPM
PNS SNS
50BPM
PNS SNS
150BPM
PNS SNS
120BPM
Reduced heart rate
Increased heart rate
Resting HR
Parasympathetic blockade
Double blockade (intrinsic HR)
Sympathetic blockade
120BPM
150BPM
65 BPM
50BPM
The PNS is applying a brake on the heart
Less PNS input increases heart rate
Heart rate variability studies are increasing in popularity
Mental illness is associated with reduced HRV at rest
Kemp & Quintana (2013) International Journal of Psychophysiology, 89
HRV predicts the outcome of cardiovascular illness independent of other CVD predictors
Stein and Kleiger (1999) Annual Review of Medicine, 50(1)
HRV provides information on operator preparedness before a task and the amount of mental workload investment during a task.
Duschek et al. (2000) Biological Psychology, 81(2)
Heart rate variability and operator performance
• HRV decreases with more attentional processing
• Higher levels of baseline HRV related to larger declines
• Better performance related to lower HRV
• Greater attentional capacity related to reduced HRV
De Rivencourt et al. (2008) Ergonomics, 59(9)
Heart rate variability can measure operator task demand
HRV and operator performance
Pre-task During task
Task begin
HRV
Ideal operator
Less-than optimal operator
Measuring physiology to assess operator performance
$100,000 USD$2,000,000 USD in addition to $1000 USD cost per use
Devices to collect HRV cost between $400 and $20,000 USD
Heart rate variability is easy to implement in simulator or real-world environments
HRV can be used to ask, “What’s the level of mental workload investment during a task?”
Easy to set-up data collection – people forget they’re wearing the devices
“Tweetable” take home messages
Heart rate variability (HRV) provides a non-invasive measure of autonomic nervous system function
HRV yields objective info on operator preparedness and the amount of mental workload investment
HRV can be unobtrusively collected in real-world situations
