For over two centuries, the wheelchair has been one of the most common assistive devices for individuals with locomotor impairments without many modifications. Wheelchair control is a complex motor task that increases both the physical and cognitive workload. New wheelchair interfaces, including Power Assisted devices, can further augment users by reducing the required physical effort, however little is known on the mental effort implications. In this study, we adopted a neuroergonomic approach utilizing mobile and wireless functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) based brain monitoring of physically active participants. 48 volunteers (30 novice and 18 experienced) self-propelled on a wheelchair with and without a PowerAssist interface in both simple and complex realistic environments. Results indicated that as expected, the complex more difficult environment led to lower task performance complemented by higher prefrontal cortex activity compared to the simple environment. The use of the PowerAssist feature had significantly lower brain activation compared to traditional manual control only for novices. Expertise led to a lower brain activation pattern within the middle frontal gyrus, complemented by performance metrics that involve lower cognitive workload. Results here confirm the potential of the Neuroergonomic approach and that direct neural activity measures can complement and enhance task performance metrics. We conclude that the cognitive workload benefits of PowerAssist are more directed to new users and difficult settings. The approach demonstrated here can be utilized in future studies to enable greater personalization and understanding of mobility interfaces within real-world dynamic environments.

中文翻译：

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使用移动 fNIRS 对轮椅控制进行神经人体工程学评估


两个多世纪以来，轮椅一直是运动障碍人士最常见的辅助设备之一，无需进行太多修改。轮椅控制是一项复杂的运动任务，会增加体力和认知工作量。新的轮椅界面，包括动力辅助设备，可以通过减少所需的体力劳动来进一步增强用户的能力，但对于脑力劳动的影响却知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们采用了一种神经人体工程学方法，利用移动和无线功能性近红外光谱 (fNIRS) 对身体活跃的参与者进行大脑监测。 48 名志愿者（30 名新手和 18 名经验丰富）在简单和复杂的现实环境中使用或不使用 PowerAssist 界面在轮椅上自行行走。结果表明，正如预期的那样，与简单环境相比，复杂、困难的环境导致任务绩效降低，但前额皮质活动更高。与仅针对新手的传统手动控制相比，使用 PowerAssist 功能的大脑激活程度明显较低。专业知识导致额中回的大脑激活模式较低，并辅以涉及较低认知工作量的绩效指标。这里的结果证实了神经人体工程学方法的潜力，并且直接的神经活动测量可以补充和增强任务绩效指标。我们的结论是，PowerAssist 的认知工作负载优势更多地针对新用户和困难的设置。这里演示的方法可以在未来的研究中使用，以实现更大的个性化和对现实世界动态环境中移动界面的理解。