Behavioral indicators associated with subjective mental fatigue during VDT-based learning activities

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationships between subjective mental fatigue and behavioral indicators during free-form VDT-based learning activities. In the experiments, participants reported subjective mental fatigue and recorded facial video and PC interaction logs during learning activities. In the analyses, after confirming the validity of subjective mental fatigue, we analyzed its relationships with indicators derived from facial video and PC interaction logs. The results showed that indicators derived from PC interaction behaviors were negatively associated with mental fatigue. In contrast, facial indicators, such as mouth-related actions and changes in head rotation angles, were positively associated with it. These results indicate that mental fatigue during free-form VDT-based learning is associated with changes in interaction variability and facial movement patterns. These findings suggest that behavioral regulation gradually changes as fatigue increases.