Effects of Task-Load Transitions on EEG Coupling in a High-Tempo Cooperative Task: Verifying a Basic Utility for Future Team Monitoring

Research shows that teammates often exhibit similarities in their physiological and behavioral responses during cooperative tasks, a phenomenon termed physio-behavioral coupling (PBC). Recently, studies have extended the examination of PBC to include electrocephalography (EEG). In this study, we examined the coupling strength of EEG Fz responses from dyadic teams performing Air Force Spaceship Simulator (AFSS – a variant of Atari Asteroids) to explore the basic utility of EEG coupling measures for the real-time monitoring of team task-load in Air Force operations (e.g., remotely piloted vehicle navigation). Specific study goals were to, a) verify that Fz coupling during AFSS was driven by the team-task environment (and not simply a chance artifact), b) determine if Fz coupling was affected by periodic transitions from low-to-high task load (TL), and c) examine the relationship between Fz coupling and team performance. Findings confirmed that Fz coupling in this task was indeed driven by the team-task environment, that Fz coupling was affected by TL transitions, and that Fz coupling exhibited a moderate relationship with team performance throughout the experiment (r ~ -.50). Specifically, high Fz coupling was shown to be associated with low TL, whereas low Fz coupling was associated with high TL. In addition, these TL-induced changes in Fz coupling exhibited minimal lag (less than 30-seconds), although changes in Fz coupling in response to high TL were transient and inconsistent. Together, these findings verify the potential of Fz coupling as an objective and physiology-based indicator of TL that could be used in the future to monitor human performance in team Air Force operations.