Measurement of mental workload associated to the use of clinical information systems: Feasibility and accuracy of eye tracking as a measurement method

The test is used to validate eye tracking as a method of measuring mental workload. Measurements of eye tracking can be pupil dilation, saccades or fixation duration. They are all specifically related to mental workload. This study examines the extent to which these measures are related to different levels of workload and how they change depending on the level of workload. For this purpose, the level of workload is controlled using a secondary task. Participants are asked to solve different types of tasks related to the use of a DICOM viewer, graded by difficulty. The difficulty of the tasks performed in the DICOM viewer is evaluated by healthcare experts (e.g., physicians, university professors in the healthcare field) prior to the experiment. In between working on the tasks on the DICOM viewer, the participants have to work on a secondary task - an arithmetic task as well as a computerized reaction time task (mental rotation), which are divided into three different difficulty levels. These side tasks are worked on to modify the level of workload in order to validate the measurements with the eye tracker. In addition, subjects will be required to complete a short questionnaire (NASA-TLX) after each completed task. Throughout the study, "errors" as well as speed of task completion will be recorded. At the end of the study, they are also asked about their acceptance of technologies using questionnaires.