Attention, boredom and mind wandering during a vigilance task: EEG and ocular markers

Automation of processes in factory has drastically changed the work environment, often making the workers daily duties monotonous and less challenging. Lack of attention, boredom and mind wandering may negatively impact the employees' efficiency and safety in workplace. In this work, we aim at characterizing these mental states through the analysis of physiological measures. We simultaneously acquired EEG and Eye Tracker signals from 15 healthy subjects. Participants performed a modified version of the Mackworth Clock Test, specifically designed to investigate attention, boredom and mind wandering. Results show that the number of blinks represents a reliable marker for attention and boredom. For the latter, the mean power in theta band on Fz also resulted a good predictor. Additionally, our findings suggest that alpha power on midline channels is a suitable feature to discriminate low and high levels of boredom and mind wandering. Although being only at a preliminary stage, our approach and the results obtained so far represent a promising starting point towards the recognition of these mental states.