Where Ergonomics, Statistics, and Psychophysiology Mix In A Blend

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Biofeedback: A New Training Approach for Operator’s Performance Enhancement.

Auditya — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 02:19:15 +0000

Abstract: The widespread implementation of advanced and complex systems requires predominantly operators’ cognitive functions and less importance of human manual control. On the other hand, most operators perform their cognitive functions below their peak cognitive capacity level due to fatigue, stress, and boredom. Thus, there is a need to improve their cognitive functions during work. The goal of this paper is to present a psychophysiology training approach derived from cardiovascular response named heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback. Description of resonant frequency biofeedback – a specific HRV training protocol – is discussed as well as its supported researches for the performance enhancement. HRV biofeedback training works by teaching people to recognize their involuntary HRV and to control patterns of this physiological response. The training is directed to increase HRV amplitude that promotes autonomic nervous system balance. This balance is associated with improved physiological functioning as well as psychological benefits. Most individuals can learn HRV biofeedback training easily which involves slowing the breathing rate (around six breaths/min) to each individual’s resonant frequency at which the amplitude of HRV is maximized. Maximal control over HRV can be obtained in most people after approximately four sessions of training. Recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of HRV biofeedback to the improvement of some cognitive functions in both simulated and real industrial operators.

Keywords: heart rate variability, biofeedback, operator, cognitive performance, resonant frequency

Sutarto, A.P., Abdul Wahab, M.N., and Mat Zin, N. 2010. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Biofeedback: A New Training Approach for Operator’s Performance Enhancement. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management 3(1): 176-198. doi:10.3926/jiem.2010.v3n1.p176-198. http://upcommons.upc.edu/revistes/bitstream/2099/9219/1/sutarto.pdf

GENERAL BIOFEEDBACK TRAINING

Auditya — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:29:45 +0000

Alhamdulillah, I’ve just finished attending General Biofeedback: Psychophysiological Assessment online training. It was provided by www.behavmedfoundation.org with Dr Richard Sherman as the instructor. This introductory level, home study, biofeedback training course is the equivalent content of a three credit college course and provides 50 hours of CE credit approved by the APA and NBCC. The course syllabus as follows:

Basic Concepts and Credibility
Stress and Disease
Electricity, Muscles, and SEMG
Development and Nerves (the most difficult topic)
Pain 1: Referred Pain, EEG, and Blood Flow
Pain 2: Headache
Pain 3: Low Back Pain, trigger points
Recording 1: Equipment Overview
Recording 2: SEMG
Recording 3: GSR, Respiration, HR, HRV
Recording 4: Temperature and EEG
Assessment 1: Interviews and Tracking Changes
Assessment 2: Psychophysiological Profile
Assessment 3: Low Back Pain and Headaches
Asssessment 4: Phantom Pain and Pelvic Floor
Norms and Habituation
Associated Techniques: Relaxation Training, Meditation, Cognitive Restructuring, etc
Treatment 1: Techniques overview, Model, Protocol
Treatment 2: Muscle and Blood Flow Related Problems
Treatment 3 & 4: Pelvic Floor Intervention 1 and 2
Treatment 5 & 6: Anxiety, ADHD, hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome, Raynauds, addiction, etc
Cases and tricks
Ethics

It is a difficult course for me since I have no clinical background Alhamdulillah I was able to answer review questions with excellent (as Dr Sherman said ). Although for my research purpose, I only concern on HR, HRV, and ANS, but it’s no loose, it’s very worthy to learn other topics on general biofeedback. For example, I know that a straw can be a fancy way as biofeedback tools for treating one of pelvic disorder..hehehe. I also know that many people are not able to differentiate between migraine and tension headache. And lots more.

Ergonomics – What is it?

Auditya — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:05:30 +0000

You may have heard of the term ‘ergonomics’. This is sometimes referred to as ‘human factors’ in US or bioengineering in Scandinavian (?). Not everyone really understands what ergonomics is, what it does, or how it affects people. Survey in UK in 1992 showed that only 5% of the UK population could give an accurate definitionand 45% of thought it was the design of chairs !! (I haven’t update the data yet). And this is much worse if done in Asia particularly in Indonesia (psttt..my supervisor even had not much idea what is ergonomics whereas I’d be doing my study pertaining such subject)

According to the International Ergonomics 2000, Ergonomics is defined:

“Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with understanding the interaction among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance”

Objective to achieve in implementing ergonomics are: the most productive use of human capabilities and maintenance of human health and well-being. In other words, ergonomics aims to ensure that human needs for safe and efficient working are met in the design of worksystem.

The benefits of implementing ergonomics in a particular work system are: Higher productivity, Higher Quality, Reduced operator injury, Increased morale, Greater job satisfaction, Lower medical & insurance costs, Reduced lost time, Lower absenteeism, and Less employee turnover

To achieve the goals, thus the job must ‘fit the person’ (the opposite concept of ergonomics is fitting the man to the task) and should not compromise human capabilities and limitations.

Ergonomics is an integration of many disciplines that is,

I have a degree in industrial engineering, but currently I’ve been facing a lot on medical content rather than engineering issue of ergonomics

A brief historical review of ergonomics is illustrated below:

Interesting explanations of ergonomics concept at the workplace can be found in www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg90.pdf and www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/dosh_publications/EasErg2.pdf

Psychophysiological Training For Improving Operator’s Performance In Manufacturing Industry

Auditya — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:09:40 +0000

To address with the transition to an industrializing production economy, the Malaysian manufacturing sector has been upgrading into the higher-tech, higher value-added and more sophisticated global manufacturing environment. The increase of manufacturing process complexity shifts the nature of the human operator’s task from an emphasis on perceptual motor skills or psychomotor activities to an emphasis on knowledge-based or cognitive activities, such as problem solving and decision making. Regarding the number of manufacturing’s operators employed accounts for 67.46 percent, there is a need to search the technique for the improvement of their work performance as a part of human capital enhancement. In this paper, the basic concept of psychophysiology training derived from cardiovascular response i.e. heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback is presented as well as its issues related to the applicability for the improvement of cognitive performance. HRV-biofeedback training works by teaching people to recognize their involuntary heart rate variability and to control patterns of this physiological response. Most individuals can learn HRV biofeedback training easily which involves slowing the breathing rate (around six breaths/min) to each individual’s resonant frequency at which the amplitude of HRV is maximized. By the use of psychophysiological technique along with various senses stimulation and with the operators’ active involvement, operators are trained how to self-correct their states. They can deal with cognitive inhibit factors during work and gain improved cognitive performance.

Keywords: Psychophysiology, Biofeedback, Heart Rate Variability, Resonant frequency, Operator, Human Performance

Presented at International Conference on Human Capital Development 2009, University of Malaysia Pahang, Pahang, Malaysia, May 2009

HEART RATE VARIABILITY

Auditya — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:44:50 +0000

The human heart is a four-chambered bio-electrical pump beating at an ever changing rate: it is not like a clock that beats at a steady, unchanging rate. This variability in heart rate is an adaptive quality in a healthy body. Heart rate variability (HRV), which is also referred as sinus arrythmia, is defined as a measure of the oscillation of the interval between consecutive heartbeats. A heart rate of 75 beats and 64.5 per minute correspond to an interbeat interval of 0.80 s (60 s/0.80 s = 75 beats per minute) and an interbeat interval of 0.93 s (60 sec/0.93 s = 64.5 beats per minute), respectively.

HRV is influenced by both of the excitatory sympathetic and the inhibitory parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system (ANS.) These two branches which often opposed interact are responsible for modulating individuals’ physiological arousal and their capacity to meet the demands of both mental and physical stress.

The use of spectral analysis enables to decompose HRV into components associated with different biological mechanism. The Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (1996), established a standard for categorizing frequency ranges of HRV. The highest which ranges from 0.15 – 0.4 Hz, is associated with parasympathetic pathways and mainly reflects the influence of respiration in normal frequencies on HRV . The low band which includes frequencies from 0.04 to 0.15 Hz is related to the influence of baroreceptors (BP) rhythms on heart rhythms (meditative/slow breathing augment this range). The very low frequency band which ranges from 0.005 to 0.04 Hz represents the sympathetic activation, or more probably the withdrawal parasympathetic braking, also the influences of visceral and thermal regulation (rumination and worry augment this range). Finally, the lowest band, which includes frequencies less than 0.0033 Hz (Ultra Low Frequency) is beyond BFB measurement technology and associated with slower acting biological influences. An inhibitation of the 0.1 Hz mid-frequency component has been found under conditions of increased cognitive demand, e.g., problem solving, increased working memory load

HRV has relevance for physical, emotional, and mental function. Research has shown that higher HRV is associated with creativity, psychological flexibility, and a more developed capacity to adjust cognitive, affective, and physiological responses to stress. On the contrary, low HRV is linked to anxiety disorders, depression, and cardiovascular disease.

HRV and Mental Workload Measurement

Since the early 1980s, Heart rate variability (HRV), or sinus arrhythmia, has gained widespread acceptance as a measure of mental effort. In a study of Mulder, and Mulder (1987) found HRV to be associated with the changing levels of user effort. It has been supported by work of Tattersall and Hockey (1995) which showed that an increase in mental effort was typically related to a reduction in the power associated with the mid-frequency band in the HRV power spectrum. As cited from A.L. Hansen, Vagal influence on working memory and attention, International Journal of Psychophysiology 48 (2003) 263–274

“More recent studies have related HRV to memory performance, mental workload and attention (Vincent et al., 1996; Middelton et al., 1999; Redondo and Delvalleinclan, 1992; Veltman and Gaillard, 1998; Backs and Seljos, 1994; Ekberg et al., 1995; Schellekens et al., 2000). Using a continuous memory task, Backs and Seljos (1994) found that as memory load increased, good performers had a small heart rate (HR) period variability decrease (i.e. higher root mean squared successive differences, rMSSD), and poor performers had a large heart period variability decrease (i.e. lower rMSSD). Furthermore, Middelton et al. (1999) found that overall HR and blood pressure variability were influenced significantly by executive and attentional tasks. “

In spite of extensive studies on the application of HRV as mental (cognitive) task measurement, there is no published research to date on the use of such knowledge as an intervention to enhance operator’s cognitive performance . How it can be done? That’s what I’ve been trying to achieve, employing HRV as a feedback so that operators are able to correct their physiology system into optimally states. As a result, better performance through improved cognitive functions during work

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I apply heart rate variability (HRV) as a psychophysiological self-regulation- based intervention in my current study. Since I have no medical background and only got very little in this subject during my undergraduate study (ergonomics physiology) , I try to supply my knowledge of HRV by reading a lot (of course), discussing with my hubby :p, and attending general biofeedback course. So far Dr Sherman is satisfied with my performance, however I still find difficulties to comprehend fully such theory

If any mis-interpretation or incorrect statement are found, please don’t hesitate to tell me. Sometimes I think I should attend at least one semester class (formal education?) on physiology

ROBUST TESTS IN THE LINEAR MODELS

Auditya — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:02:08 +0000

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we describe a family of regression test which are robust for non
normal errors. We discuss some tests which are constructed based on estimate of the covariate parameter β in linear model, y = Xα + Zβ +ε . These easy-to compute tests are asymptotically equivalent to other more complicated tests previously proposed. The tests were illustrated with stack loss data using R. Simulation results showed that the simpler tests also behaved satisfactorily in small samples.

Keywords: Robust, Least Square, Linear Model, Rank Tests

My master thesis relied heavily on the work of Thompson, S., and Rothenberg T., (2003), Robust Tests in the Linear Model. I rerun the data using n “R” programming while the authors used “Ox” language programming.

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Talking bout my master study, it’s very challenging and interesting to learn statistics from pure approach since I had been working on the application only. Currently I don’t use most of its theory, however its logical and systematic framework teach me to be more criticial mainly within scientific area as well as sharpening my skill analysis

Preliminary Study-Biofeedback Technique for Improving Human Operator’s Cognitive Performance

Auditya — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:20:39 +0000

Abstract - An increase in computer-based control and the automation of functions direct to predominantly cognitive tasks assigned to the shop floor. Thus, performance of the human in such becomes more critical. To date, very few psychophysiology-based approaches used to teach the operators to be relaxed and calm while maintaining cognitive focus on their work performance. The aim of this paper was to evaluate a novel psychophysiology (hear rate variability (HRV) Biofeedback) intervention protocol for the enhancement of cognitive performance. The HRV biofeedback protocol used in this study includes slow breathing technique at which the greatest amplitude of HRV achieved (5-6 breaths/minute at 0.1 Hz), and pursed-lips diaphragmatic breathing. Nine subjects underwent the 6 sessions of HRV biofeedback training. The analysis of Wilcoxon test revealed significant increase (p < 0.05) on stroop color-word, memory and arithmetic performance after biofeedback training across eight of nine subjects. This has been supported by significant change (p < 0.05) toward lower frequency (LF) oscillation which range from 0.05-0.15 Hz or approximately 5-6 breaths/minute over all sessions. In summary, HRV biofeedback led not only to the generation of highest amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia or HRV at 0.1 Hz, but also resulted in improvement of the operators’ cognitive performance. This preliminary study shows promising application of HRV biofeedback in the area of workplace.

Keywords: Cognitive Performance, Psychophysiology, Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Biofeedback

Published in Proceeding of Fifth International Cyberspace Conference on Ergonomics, 2008, Sarawak, Malaysia

The Development of Heart Rate Variability (HRV)-Biofeedback Training Protocol to Improve Visual Inspection Performance

Auditya — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:08:40 +0000

Abstract- Human involvement in industrial visual inspection task can not be eliminated due to their superiority decision making ability and inherent flexibility. Operators receive ample training in the theoretical knowledge and technical skill, however no psychophysiological-based training used to enhance their cognitive functions, mainly in maintaining the attention. The aim of this paper is to develop a Heart Rate Variability (HRV)-biofeedback training protocol that can quickly teach the inspectors to be relaxed and calm while maintaining cognitive focus on their work performance. The protocol trains operator to breathe 5 cycles in one minute to achieve coherence state. To work effectively, this resonant frequency technique should be accompanied by relaxation and cultivating positive emotions. After workers acquire this self-regulation skill, they can employ it mainly to address some stressful factors inhibiting their cognitive functions during work.

Keywords: Visual Inspection, HRV-biofeedback, Resonant Frequency, Cognitive Performance

Proceedings of MUCET 2008, Malaysian Technical Universities Conference on Engineering and Technology, March 8-10, 2008, Putra Palace, Perlis, Malaysia

The Use Of Biofeedback For Enhancing Cognitive Performance In Industrial Training Setting

Auditya — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:50:53 +0000

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, performance of the human in complex manufacturing system becomes more critical due to predominantly cognitive tasks assigned to the shop floor. Operators receive ample training in the theoretical knowledge and technical skill required to perform their jobs. However most receive little psychophysiological training which uses their physiology feedback as a tool to enhance their cognitive functions during work. One promising technique of such applied psychophysiology is biofeedback. The aim of this paper is to present how such training can be used for the improvement of work performance (i.e. cognitive performance) in industrial setting for both novice and experienced operators. To provide a clear description, an illustration of employing this training on visual inspection task in industrial manufacturing system is also discussed. This study shows that heart rate variability (HRV)-biofeedback is a powerful tool that can be utilized to enhance inspector’s cognitive performance (visual search and decision-making qualities). An operator can do various strategies to engage his/her best HRV-state so that after this self-regulation skill achieved, he/she can employ it mainly to address some stressful factors inhibiting their cognitive functions during work.

Keywords: Biofeedback, Cognitive Performance, Visual Inspection, Industrial Training

Presented at National Conference on Skills and Competencies in Education 2008, February 16, 2008, School of Humanities, University of Sains Malaysia (publication in proceeding format in press)