EEG markers for anticipated difficulty of future visual task.

Abstract

Estimating human subjective difficulty in response to anticipated future events is an important technique for maintaining physical safety and mental well-being through effective load management. Towards to developing such techniques, we utilized electroencephalography (EEG) to estimate subjective difficulty associated with a forthcoming visual task. Our experiment entailed presenting participants with two visual stimuli during an initial anticipation period. These stimuli, being partial elements of the subsequent task, allowed participants to voluntarily anticipate the level of difficulty of the upcoming visual task. We found significant correlations between task difficulty and event-related potentials (N100, P400, and P600) as well as frequency bands (theta and beta) in the anticipation period. These results highlight the importance of gating mechanisms and working memory in anticipation period and provide a theoretical foundation for monitoring cognitive load.