The use of wearable devices in cognitive fatigue: current trends and future intentions

Abstract Due to the limited capacity of the brain, prolonged mental tasks placed on an individual could cause cognitive fatigue (CF). CF is known to cause attention deficits, leading to poor situational awareness and vigilance. Depending on the circumstances, such attention deficits may cause catastrophic outcomes, causing harm to many individuals. Hence, early identification of CF is mandatory. Wearable technology seems to provide a promising solution in detecting CF by monitoring the alterations of physiological parameters, eye movements, speech, or brain activity. Further, some recently developed wearable devices are shown to have the potential to alert the user regarding an impending CF and activate safety measurements. However, other coinciding factors, such as emotions or exercise, could alter the aforementioned factors used in the detection of CF. Thus, the accuracy and validity of recognizing CF using wearables are lower than detecting physical fatigue. However, with the advancements of technology, these devices continue to demonstrate excellent improvements. This article provides a condensed summary of the use of wearable devices in detecting CF in the recent literature and their possible developments in the future. Concepts discussed in the article will interest the ergonomists, health and safety engineers, human factors engineers, and health care professionals.