Abstract Given the increasing complexity of construction tasks, and the growing number of construction operations within confined workplaces, construction workers rely heavily on working memory. In this context, working memory is defined as the short-term and temporary storage of information related to near future events to ensure the seamless execution of construction tasks. Although a strong relationship between engineering information format and task performance has been observed in the relevant literature, there remains an obvious theoretical disagreement—in particular, about the cognitive mechanisms for explaining why different information formats affect working memory development and retrieval in distinct ways. This study presents a human–subject experiment (n = 120) to examine the impact of information format on the performance of a pipe maintenance task, and the implications of cognitive costs in both working memory development (information encoding) and retrieval (information recalling). Participants were required to review the operational instructions for a pipe maintenance task for a short period, and then perform the task from memory. Participants were divided into four groups depending on the format of information they received: 2D isometric drawing of the plate heat exchanger with bulleted-text operational instructions (2D-simple group); 2D isometric drawing of the plate heat exchanger with rich-text operational instruction (2D-complex group); an interactive 3D model of the plate heat exchanger with bulleted-text operational instructions (3D group); or an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment with bulleted-text operational instructions (VR group). The results indicated that 3D and VR groups outperformed 2D-simple and 2D-complex groups in both operation time and maintenance accuracy. A further cognitive load analysis (based on surveys and pupil dilation) suggested that the superior performance of these groups is driven by more efficient usage of working memory, measured by how easily the encoded information can be recalled in the operation phase. Larger pupil dilation during encoding, indicative of successful working memory formation, was associated with better subsequent performance. These findings provide more evidence about cognitive mechanisms engaged by different information formats, help to resolve the current theoretical disagreement within the construction literature, and may inspire designs of cognition-driven information systems that can improve working memory in construction workers.

中文翻译：

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工程信息格式对施工作业学习和执行的影响：虚拟现实管道维修实验

摘要 鉴于施工任务日益复杂，以及在有限工作场所内施工作业的数量不断增加，建筑工人严重依赖工作记忆。在这种情况下，工作记忆被定义为与近期事件相关的信息的短期和临时存储，以确保施工任务的无缝执行。尽管在相关文献中已经观察到工程信息格式与任务绩效之间的密切关系，但仍然存在明显的理论分歧——特别是关于解释为什么不同信息格式以不同方式影响工作记忆发展和检索的认知机制。本研究提出了一项人类受试者实验 (n = 120)，以检查信息格式对管道维护任务性能的影响，以及认知成本对工作记忆发展（信息编码）和检索（信息回忆）的影响. 参与者需要在短时间内查看管道维护任务的操作说明，然后凭记忆执行任务。参与者根据他们收到的信息格式分为四组： 带有项目符号文本操作说明的板式换热器的二维等轴测图（二维简单组）；带有富文本操作说明的板式换热器的二维等轴测图（二维复杂组）；带有项目符号文本操作说明的板式换热器的交互式 3D 模型（3D 组）；或带有项目符号文本操作说明的沉浸式虚拟现实 (VR) 环境（VR 组）。结果表明，3D 和 VR 组在操作时间和维护精度方面均优于 2D 简单组和 2D 复杂组。进一步的认知负荷分析（基于调查和瞳孔扩张）表明，这些组的卓越表现是由更有效地使用工作记忆驱动的，工作记忆是通过在操作阶段回忆编码信息的难易程度来衡量的。编码期间较大的瞳孔扩张，表明工作记忆形成成功，与更好的后续表现相关。