The Inhibition of High Load Task on Individual Cognition:A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscope Study
Abstract Background: Cognitive load plays a vital role in human cognitive activities, and effective measurement and intervention of cognitive load can improve learners' learning effect. As a new method of measurement, physiological measurement can show the neural mechanism of cognitive overload. MRI and EEG, as the first physiological measurement methods, have made great contributions to the related research of cognition,but they have unavoidable flaws to a certain extent. As a new physiological measurement method in recent years, fNIRS can effectively avoid the influence of the above equipment on the experiment. This study uses fNIRS to measure cognitive load with the N-back classic paradigm, aiming to explore whether the sensitivity of the prefrontal area to the task and the difficulty of the task will affect the cognitive load of the individual. Results: Through the GLM model to concretely analyze the brain activation area and use repeated measurement analysis of variance to compare behavioral data, it can be concluded that the prefrontal cortex can be effectively activated under the stimulation of work tasks. In a certain range, the prefrontal lobe activation becomes more obvious with the increase of cognitive load, but when the cognitive load exceeds the maximum limit that the prefrontal lobe can handle, the prefrontal lobe will be in a negative activation state.Conclusion: These results suggest when the task load is appropriate, the PFC can be most effectively activated for working memory processing. Therefore, learners should be analyzed in teaching activities so as to choose appropriate teaching content to ensure the maximization of teaching effect.