Physiological Synchronization and Subjective Workload in a Competitive Emergency Response Task. Nonlinear Dynamics Psychol Life Sci 2019 Jul;23(3):347-376
Date
06/08/2019Pubmed ID
31173703Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85069302249 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 13 CitationsAbstract
Human dyads and larger teams tend to acquire synchronized movements and autonomic arousal levels while working together or simply socializing. The synchronization of arousal patterns is of theoretical interest for group dynamics because they may add predictive value to the dynamics of group cohesion and team performance. This study examined the four-way relationship among experimental conditions: team size, task difficulty, time pressure (between-subjects) and subsequent experimental sessions (within-subjects). Previously, we have shown these conditions affect subjective ratings of workload that come from individual and group-level sources, synchronization of arousal, and team performance. In an experiment involving an emergency response (ER) simulation, 360 undergraduates, who were wearing electrodermal sensors, were organized into 44 teams of various sizes. Workload was experimentally varied by team size (three, four, seven or eight members), number of opponents (one or two), and time pressure; the latter was introduced sooner or later across two experimental sessions. Results showed that the experimental conditions affected synchronization levels, either at the beginning of a session or in the middle; synchronization and experimental conditions were not directly related to team performance. Subjective group workload ratings of the coordination demand of the task correlated with synchronization at the beginning of a session while team satisfaction was correlated with greater synchrony at the end of a session. The competitive nature of the ER task, as compared to strictly cooperative tasks, could be responsible for the complexity of these empirical relationships.
Author List
Guastello SJ, Correro Ii AN, Marra DE, Peressini AFAuthors
Anthony N. Correro PhD Assistant Professor in the Neurology department at Medical College of WisconsinStephen Guastello BA,MA,PhD Professor in the Psychology department at Marquette University
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
ArousalCompetitive Behavior
Emergency Responders
Group Processes
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Students
Task Performance and Analysis
Workload
