{"id":1137294,"date":"2025-04-22T11:23:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T18:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-video&#038;p=1137294"},"modified":"2025-04-23T13:25:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T20:25:32","slug":"shining-light-on-the-learning-brain-estimating-mental-workload-in-a-simulated-flight-task-using-opt","status":"publish","type":"msr-video","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/video\/shining-light-on-the-learning-brain-estimating-mental-workload-in-a-simulated-flight-task-using-opt\/","title":{"rendered":"Shining light on the learning brain: Estimating mental workload in a simulated flight task using opt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Accurately estimating cognitive workload is essential for adaptive learning in pilot training, allowing flight simulation tasks to be tailored to the pilot&#8217;s skill level. In this project, we investigate the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (f-NIRS) to measure cognitive workload in pilots during a simulated flight task. f-NIRS, a non-invasive brain imaging technique, monitors changes in blood oxygenation in the cerebral cortex. Participants performed a series of flight maneuvers varying in complexity, whilst f-NIRS, breathing, and electrocardiography (ECG) signals were measured. Workload levels were quantified using both objective (task performance metrics) and subjective (self-reported workload) measures. To predict objective workload levels from the f-NIRS signals, we discarded noisy signals, extracted useful features from the signals, and fed these to machine learning predictors. Our predictor performs mental workload estimation in an objective and subject-independent manner. Ultimately, we demonstrate the viability of fNIRS as a tool for real-time workload monitoring in aviation, with a potential application in adaptive pilot training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Accurately estimating cognitive workload is essential for adaptive learning in pilot training, allowing flight simulation tasks to be tailored to the pilot&#8217;s skill level. In this project, we investigate the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (f-NIRS) to measure cognitive workload in pilots during a simulated flight task. f-NIRS, a non-invasive brain imaging technique, monitors changes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1137295,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr_hide_image_in_river":null,"footnotes":""},"research-area":[13554],"msr-video-type":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[269148,269142],"msr-session-type":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"msr-episode":[],"msr-research-theme":[],"class_list":["post-1137294","msr-video","type-msr-video","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","msr-research-area-human-computer-interaction","msr-locale-en_us","msr-post-option-approved-for-river","msr-post-option-include-in-river"],"msr_download_urls":"","msr_external_url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/XfIcC9xyO1k","msr_secondary_video_url":"","msr_video_file":"http:\/\/0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-video\/1137294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-video"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-video"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-video\/1137294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1137299,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-video\/1137294\/revisions\/1137299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1137295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=1137294"},{"taxonomy":"msr-video-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-video-type?post=1137294"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=1137294"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=1137294"},{"taxonomy":"msr-session-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-session-type?post=1137294"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=1137294"},{"taxonomy":"msr-pillar","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-pillar?post=1137294"},{"taxonomy":"msr-episode","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-episode?post=1137294"},{"taxonomy":"msr-research-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-theme?post=1137294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}