Summary
Operators of visual display terminals (VDT) often complain of physical, as well as psychological stress. Under certain circumstances, increased psychological stress among VDT operators is seen to create serious problems in their occupations, yet few studies have dealt directly with this problem. It is not clear how this should be measured and evaluated. We report the results of experiments where psychological stress was induced during VDT tasks such as visual search and computer mouse operations. The relationship between spatio-temporal analysis of EEG activity and productivity of VDT work was investigated. The subjects were divided into three age groups: young adults (18–22 years old), middle-aged (38–42 years old) and the elderly (58 years and over). Characteristic EEG changes occurred during VDT tasks. These consisted of frontal midline theta waves with maximum amplitude at Fz. Statistically significant relationships were found between duration of working, EEG electrode location on the head, as well as correlations between work speed and variation of theta waves. It was concluded that some factors relating to the severity of a mental task and the distribution of cortical EEG potentials are closely related. When long lasting theta waves appear in the EEG, a rest period should be considered, before the subjects complain of fatigue. An effective method to optimally determine the duration of work and rest periods can be designed using the EEG.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Floru, R., Cail, F. and Elias, R. Psychophysiological changes during a VDT repetitive task. Ergonomics, 1985, 28: 1455–1468.
Haider, M., Koller, M., Groll-Krapp, E., Cervinka, R. and Kundi, M. Psychophysiological studies on stress and machine-paced work. In: Salvendy, G. and Smith, M.J. eds. Machine Pacing and Occupational Stress. Taylor and Francis Ltd., London, 1981, 303–309.
Hayashi, H., Iijima, S., Sugita, Y., Teshima, Y., Tashiro, T., Matsuo, R., Yashoshima, A., Hishikawa, Y. and Ishihara, T. Appearance of frontal midline theta rhythm during sleep and its relation to mental activity. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 1987, 66: 67–70.
Ishihara, T. and Yoshii, N. Multivariate analytic study of EEG and mental activity in juvenile delinquents. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 1972, 33: 71–80.
Jasper, H. The ten-twenty electrode system of the international federation. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 1958, 10: 371–375.
Kato, M., Ogino, T. and Suzuki, T. Cardiac Rhythm and Urinary Excretion of Cathcholamine under Mental Work and Physical Exercise. Tohoku J. exp.
Matsuoka, S., Soejima, T. and Yokota, A. (Eds.), Clinical Topographic Electroencephalography and Evoked Potentials. Shindan-To-Chiryo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 1985, 220.
Okuda, S., Matsuoka, S. and Mohri, M. Topographic electroencephalographic studies in a hyperbaric environmentspecific reference to high pressure nervous syndrome. J. UOEH, 1988, 10: 247–261.
Osaka, M. Effect of mental activity on peak alpha frequency: influence of task difficulty. Jap. J. EEG EMG., 1983, 11:248–254 (in Japanese).
Schacter, D.L. EEG theta wave and psychological phenomena: A view and analysis. Biol. Psycholog., 1977, 5: 47–82.
Smith, M.J., Cohen, B.G.F., Stammerjohn Jr. L.W., and Happ, A. An investigation of health complaints and job stress in selected reports on health issues video display operators. Selected reports on health issues in video display terminal operations, NIOSH, USA, April 1981.
Ueno, S., Matsuoka, S., Mizoguchi, T., Chang, K. and Nagashima, M. Topographic computer display of abnormal EEG activities in patients with CNS iseases. Memoirs of the Faculty of Eng., Kyushu University., 1975, 34: 195–209.
Westmoreland, B.F. and Klass, D.W. Midline theta rhythm. Arch. Neurolog., 1986, 43: 139–141.
Yamaguchi, Y. Frontal midline theta activity. In: M. Yamaguchi, and K. Fujisawa, K. (Eds.), Recent advances in EEG and EMG data processing, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1981, 391–396.
Yamamoto, S., Matsuoka, S., Noro, K. and Ishikawa, T. Two dimensional analysis of operator's EEG in VDT work. In: S. Matsuoka, et al. (Eds.), Clinical Topographic Electroencephalography and Evoked Potentials. Shindan-To-Chiryo Co. Ltd., Tokyo, 1985, 212–217.
Yasoshima, A., Hishikawa, Y. and Ishihara, T. Appearance of frontal midline theta rhythm during sleep and its relation to mental activity. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 1967, 66: 67–70.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Acknowledgments: This investigation was supported by a special grant from the Minister of Labor of Japan for studies on Industrial Ecological Sciences. The authors would like to thank Mr. H. Togami, Analytical Laboratory of Human Information, University of Occupational and Environmental Health for his computer program for experimental mouse operation.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yamamoto, S., Matsuoka, S. Topographic EEG study of visual display terminal (VDT) performance with special reference to frontal midline theta waves. Brain Topogr 2, 257–267 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01129654
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01129654