The Investigation of Systematic Micro-refresh with Auditory Stimuli on Intellectual Work

Abstract

Systematic micro-refresh arises as one of the recovery strategies during the intellectual work to preserve a good performance. In this study, controlled laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of auditory stimuli to induce a systematic micro-refresh on intellectual work. In this preliminary experiment, four participants’ data which demonstrated a positive effect in auditory stimuli intervention were analyzed. The average measurement of answering time resulted in a better condition after participants received the micro-refresh auditory stimuli compared to non-auditory stimuli. NASA task load index questionnaire scores show that in a condition without auditory stimuli, the score is higher which implies a higher workload in a condition without auditory stimuli intervention. The subjective symptoms questionnaire indicates that in a condition without auditory stimuli, participants feel sleepier. However, a blurriness and sluggishness score shows a slightly higher score in a condition with auditory stimuli compared to a non-auditory stimuli condition. Subjective feelings of concentration showed that the score is a little bit lower in a condition with auditory stimuli. A higher fatigue level score happened in a condition without auditory stimuli. Participants feel more detached, easily recovered, and more relaxed compared to no auditory stimuli intervention. From the total score of the attention control scale questionnaire, participants were classified as a medium-attentional group and a high-attentional group, which might imply a positive correlation to the good attentional control and micro-refresh auditory stimuli responses. This study portrays the auditory stimuli as a promising micro-refresh medium to promote recovery enhancement strategy for intellectual work.

Keywords: Systematic Micro-Refresh, Auditory Stimuli, Recovery Strategy, Intellectual Work

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1004942