Waterink W, van Boxtel A
Department of Psychology, Tilburg University, Netherlands.
Biol Psychol. 1994 Jul;37(3):183-98. doi: 10.1016/0301-0511(94)90001-9.
This study was undertaken as a further evaluation of spontaneous facial EMG activity as an index of mental effort. We investigated whether concordant alterations in task performance level and EMG amplitude existed during a sustained information processing task. The EMG of six different facial and jaw-elevator muscles was recorded in 21 subjects performing a 20 min externally paced visual two-choice serial reaction task and in 24 other subjects performing a self-paced version of this task. In both conditions, a post-hoc division was made between subjects with stable task performance parameters and subjects with a decline in performance throughout the task period. In all subject groups, there was a gradual increase in EMG activity of frontalis, corrugator, and orbicularis oris inferior muscles following task onset. As in earlier studies, this increase was interpreted as a sign of growing compensatory mental effort. In the subject groups with declining performance, however, the initial EMG increase passed into a decreasing trend towards the end of the task period whereas in the groups with stable performance, EMG increased uninterruptedly. These results were interpreted as further support for the hypothesis that EMG activity in particular facial muscles is related to the mobilization of aspecific energetic resources.
本研究旨在进一步评估自发面部肌电图（EMG）活动作为心理努力指标的情况。我们调查了在持续信息处理任务期间，任务表现水平和EMG幅度是否存在一致的变化。在21名执行20分钟外部节奏视觉二选一序列反应任务的受试者以及另外24名执行该任务自定节奏版本的受试者中，记录了六种不同面部和下颌提升肌的EMG。在两种情况下，都对任务表现参数稳定的受试者和在整个任务期间表现下降的受试者进行了事后划分。在所有受试者组中，任务开始后，额肌、皱眉肌和口轮匝肌下部的EMG活动逐渐增加。与早期研究一样，这种增加被解释为代偿性心理努力增加的迹象。然而，在表现下降的受试者组中，最初的EMG增加在任务期结束时转变为下降趋势，而在表现稳定的组中，EMG持续增加。这些结果被解释为进一步支持了这样一种假设，即特定面部肌肉的EMG活动与非特异性能量资源的调动有关。
