Internal Representation of Task Structure and Mental Load of Work: Approaches and Methods of Assessment

Abstract

A survey is presented of research designed to elucidate problems of mental load in industrial work, using both laboratory experiments and field studies, and examining relationships between the mental demands of jobs and changes during a working spell of various indices of performance and of subjective and physiological effects. An initial enunciation of general principles stresses the importance of internal models, strategies and goals in the organisation of work activities. This is followed by brief accounts of four experimental studies. Of these, one showed that the effects of load are multidimensional, a second gave evidence of shifts of aspiration and motivation, a third illustrated the value of adequate internal models as a means of preventing fatigue, and a fourth indicated that job enrichment which increases the mental demands made by industrial work need not produce undue mental load.