Cognitive workload across subjective and electrodermal measures in relation to previous-night sleep
4 affiliations
- 1Institute of Health Studies, DSW Ideis University, Wrocław, Poland
- 2Department of Fundamentals of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, Wroclaw University of Health and Sport Sciences, Wrocław, Poland
- 3Department of Physical Education and Sport, General Tadeusz Kosciuszko Military University of Land Forces, Wrocław, Poland
- 4Department of Biological Principles of Physical Activity, Wroclaw University of Health and Sport Sciences, Wrocław, Poland
Abstract
Introduction: Cognitive workload is commonly assessed using both subjective and physiological indicators, although these measures may reflect different aspects of task-related strain. Sleep duration may further modify perceived task demand without producing proportional changes in physiological activation. This study examined the association between perceived cognitive workload and electrodermal task reactivity, and explored whether previous-night short sleep was associated with higher subjective workload without increased electrodermal activation.
Methods: A total of 52 adults were initially assessed; two were excluded due to violation of predefined eligibility criteria, resulting in a final analytical sample of 50 participants. Participants reported previous-night sleep duration and subjective sleep quality, completed a 5-min resting baseline, and then performed the Determination Test from the Vienna Test System. Electrodermal activity was recorded continuously during baseline and task performance, while perceived workload was assessed after the task using the NASA Task Load Index. Task-related electrodermal reactivity was calculated as GSR task–baseline difference, and participants were classified into short-sleep (< 7 h) and normal-sleep (≥7 h) groups.
Results: NASA-TLX total workload was not significantly associated with GSR task–baseline difference (rho = 0.126, p = 0.383). In the uncorrected threshold-based comparison, participants with short sleep reported higher perceived workload than those with normal sleep (64.44 ± 8.31 vs. 58.70 ± 9.57; p = 0.027), whereas GSR task–baseline difference was nearly identical between groups (4.57 ± 2.19 vs. 4.61 ± 2.93 μS; p = 0.884). However, the workload difference did not survive FDR correction across exploratory subgroup comparisons and should therefore be interpreted as a nominal finding.
Discussion: Overall, perceived workload and electrodermal reactivity showed limited correspondence, whereas the sleep-related analyses did not provide consistent evidence of an association with either outcome.
Related
- Time-Series Foundation Models for Cognitive Workload Classification using Eye-Tracking Data
- Personalized assessment of high-definition slow-oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation (so-tDCS) in older adults with sleep and subjective cognitive complaints: A study protocol for a randomized clinical trial
- Audiometric, Perceptual and Subjective Cognitive Assessment of Hearing Loss in Adults with Hearing-Related Complaints.
- Optimizing Cognitive Phenotyping for Genetic Discovery in Alzheimer's Disease: A Simulation-Based Evaluation of Mini-Mental State Examination-Based Decline Measures
- Electrophysiological and electrodermal correlates of risk-taking in substance use disorder during a virtual reality balloon analogue risk task
BibTeX
@article{lachowicz2026cognitive,
title = {{Cognitive workload across subjective and electrodermal measures in relation to previous-night sleep}},
author = {Maciej Lachowicz and Iwona Wilk and Igor Hrehorowicz and Szymon Bałamucki and Michał Lisowski and Dariusz Jamro and Grzegorz Zurek and Waldemar Andrzejewski},
journal = {Frontiers in Cognition},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fcogn.2026.1928964},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1928964},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Cognitive workload across subjective and electrodermal measures in relation to previous-night sleep
AU - Maciej Lachowicz
AU - Iwona Wilk
AU - Igor Hrehorowicz
AU - Szymon Bałamucki
AU - Michał Lisowski
AU - Dariusz Jamro
AU - Grzegorz Zurek
AU - Waldemar Andrzejewski
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
JO - Frontiers in Cognition
DO - 10.3389/fcogn.2026.1928964
UR - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcogn.2026.1928964
AB - Introduction: Cognitive workload is commonly assessed using both subjective and physiological indicators, although these measures may reflect different aspects of task-related strain. Sleep duration may further modify perceived task demand without producing proportional changes in physiological activation. This study examined the association between perceived cognitive workload and electrodermal task reactivity, and explored whether previous-night short sleep was associated with higher subjective workload without increased electrodermal activation. Methods: A total of 52 adults were initially assessed; two were excluded due to violation of predefined eligibility criteria, resulting in a final analytical sample of 50 participants. Participants reported previous-night sleep duration and subjective sleep quality, completed a 5-min resting baseline, and then performed the Determination Test from the Vienna Test System. Electrodermal activity was recorded continuously during baseline and task performance, while perceived workload was assessed after the task using the NASA Task Load Index. Task-related electrodermal reactivity was calculated as GSR task–baseline difference, and participants were classified into short-sleep (< 7 h) and normal-sleep (≥7 h) groups. Results: NASA-TLX total workload was not significantly associated with GSR task–baseline difference (rho = 0.126, p = 0.383). In the uncorrected threshold-based comparison, participants with short sleep reported higher perceived workload than those with normal sleep (64.44 ± 8.31 vs. 58.70 ± 9.57; p = 0.027), whereas GSR task–baseline difference was nearly identical between groups (4.57 ± 2.19 vs. 4.61 ± 2.93 μS; p = 0.884). However, the workload difference did not survive FDR correction across exploratory subgroup comparisons and should therefore be interpreted as a nominal finding. Discussion: Overall, perceived workload and electrodermal reactivity showed limited correspondence, whereas the sleep-related analyses did not provide consistent evidence of an association with either outcome.
SN - 2813-4532
ER -