Quantifying the Effect of Noise on Cognitive Processes: A Review of Psychophysiological Correlates of Workload.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review without systematic review methodology or quantitative synthesis
PubMed 36537445 · doi:10.4103/nah.nah_34_22
What was done
The authors reviewed literature investigating how irrelevant auditory stimulation affects cognitive workload during mental tasks. The review categorized combinations of auditory stimuli (speech, oddball sounds, white noise, and real-life sounds), cognitive tasks (speech-related tasks, standard psychological assessments, and simulated/real-world tasks), and psychophysiological markers (pupillometry, eye-tracking, brain activity measures, cardiovascular markers, skin conductance, endocrinological markers, and behavioral indices) evaluated for their sensitivity in detecting momentary workload.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values, effect sizes, or counts of included studies. It reports that psychophysiological markers can objectively measure compensatory cognitive effort and unnoticed noise-induced workload even when overt behavioral performance does not show measurable differences between noisy and quiet conditions.
Why it matters
This paper outlines physiological methods for detecting covert mental effort and stress from ambient noise, providing a foundation for monitoring worker strain before health is compromised.
Limits
As a narrative review, no meta-analytic pooling, risk-of-bias evaluation, or quantitative synthesis was presented in the abstract. The total number of studies, databases searched, screening criteria, and specific participant numbers are not reported.
Cited by
- supports Cognitive load and mental effort can be indexed and measured by changes in pupil diameter.