Lew Fui Ling, Qu Xingda
a School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore.
Ergonomics. 2014;57(12):1927-32. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2014.937771. Epub 2014 Jul 14.
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of mental fatigue on biomechanics of slips. A total of 44 healthy young participants were evenly categorised into two groups: no fatigue and mental fatigue. Mental fatigue was induced by performing an AX-continuous performance test. The participants in both groups were instructed to walk on a linear walkway, and slips were induced unexpectedly during walking. We found that mental fatigue has adverse effects in all the three phases of slips. In particular, it leads to increased likelihood of slip initiation, poorer slip detection and a more insufficient reactive recovery response to slips. Based on the findings from the present study, we can conclude that mental fatigue is a risk factor for slips and falls. In order to prevent slip-induced falls, interventions, such as providing frequent rest breaks, could be applied in the workplace to avoid prolonged exposures to cognitively demanding activities.
本研究的目的是调查精神疲劳对滑倒生物力学的影响。共有44名健康的年轻参与者被平均分为两组：无疲劳组和精神疲劳组。通过进行AX连续作业测试来诱发精神疲劳。两组参与者均被指示在直线通道上行走，且在行走过程中意外诱发滑倒。我们发现精神疲劳在滑倒的所有三个阶段均有不利影响。特别是，它会导致滑倒起始的可能性增加、滑倒检测能力较差以及对滑倒的反应性恢复反应更不足。基于本研究的结果，我们可以得出结论，精神疲劳是滑倒和跌倒的一个风险因素。为了防止因滑倒而跌倒，可在工作场所采取一些干预措施，如提供频繁的休息时间，以避免长时间从事需要认知能力的活动。
