Investigation of task performance variations according to task requirements and alertness across the 24-h day in shift-workers

Edith Galy (1) , Claudine Mélan (2) , Magali Cariou (2)

1 LAPCOS - Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Psychologie Cliniques, Cognitives et Sociales
2 CLLE-LTC - Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie

The study investigated time-of-day effects on task performance in shift workers in different tasks (reaction time, discrimination, probe recognition, free recall), by varying task-specific features. On each of six recordings, each programmed on a different day and in a randomised order, operators rated alertness and performed different tasks. Self-rated alertness varied according to a typical diurnal trend. Time of day also affected reaction time (slower responses at 03:00 hours), discrimination performance (lower accuracy at 03:00 hours in the most difficult condition) and recall (superior recall at 07:00 and 11:00 hours following deeper processing at encoding). The data demonstrated time-of-day effects on cognitive processes also involved in many real-job activities, despite the lack of control for a number of exogenous factors known to interfere with performance in work settings. Since in the cognitively more loaded tasks, time-of-day effects depended on task conditions, the findings are of operational concern in shift-work situations involving differential task requirements. In a real-job setting, performance variations were observed according to time of day and task requirements in a set of cognitively more or less demanding tasks. Task-specific research across the 24-h day enables a better understanding of operators' tasks and the development of supporting technology.

Mots clés: Non-verbal Discrimination; Memory Tasks; Shift-workers; Alertness; Reaction time

Domaines: Sciences cognitives

Edith Galy, Claudine Mélan, Magali Cariou. Investigation of task performance variations according to task requirements and alertness across the 24-h day in shift-workers. Ergonomics, 2008, 51 (9), pp.1338-1351. ⟨10.1080/00140130802120218⟩. ⟨halshs-01612859⟩