present results do not directly compare since the CAD task used allowed for multiple degrees of freedom. Those may be used as an additional resource for preventing stress caused by adverse factors in the work flow such as forced waiting periods. The introduction of process indicators increased working speed and accordingly cardiorespiratory activity. However, there is no increase in neck muscle tension and no stress relevant change in electrodermal or subjective measures. Instead, subjective anxiety and depression shows a small though significant decrease.
Our general conclusion is that using multi-tasking computer systems may increase the amount of work and enhance performance but does not seem to increase psychophysiological stress. Moreover, the kind of process indicator used does not really matter, although the presence of such indicators shows superiority over the absence of process indicators. It is concluded that multitasking may facilitate action regulation as an additional resource for coping with psychophysiological stress during human-computer interaction.
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This research was performed in co-operation with Holger Luczak and Matthias Goebel, Technical University of Aachen, Germany, and supported by the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungesgemeinschaft), Grants Bo554/15-1 and Lu73/11-1.