This study investigates the hypothesis that long lasting mental work demand
s are reflected in after-effects on attention demanding post-test probe tas
ks. Sixteen subjects were engaged in 2 simulated workdays consisting of men
tally demanding tasks. On the difficult day the afternoon consisted of high
ly demanding information processing tasks; on the easy day the demands duri
ng the afternoon were low. The mornings of both days were equally demanding
. At the start (pre-test) and the end (post-test) of both days, after 5 min
(immediate post-test) as well as after similar to 2 h of recuperation (del
ayed post-test), a probe task was carried out. A memory-search task (varied
mapping) is used as probe task. After-effects were expected in terms of a
shift in the ratio between performance and effort on the post-test probe ta
sks compared with the pre-test probe task. Performance measures were reacti
on time and errors; effort was indicated by heart rate variability in the 0
.07-0.14 Hz band, referred to as 0.1 Hz component. Dayload manipulation app
eared to be effective because of the load-related differences between the u
rinary excretion rates of adrenaline during both afternoons. Compared with
the pre-test, only the number of errors was significantly increased in the
post-test, carried out immediately at the end of the difficult afternoon. H
owever, compared with the easy day, in the delayed post-test probe task aft
er the difficult day, subjects tended to shorten reaction times, made signi
ficantly more errors, and invested significantly less effort. Moreover, at
that time they felt mon fatigued and deactivated as indicated by the result
s of the 'Scale of Experienced Load' (SEB) (fatigue) and 'Groninger Adjecti
ve Checklist' (GACL) (mood) questionnaires. The observed shift towards low-
effort, more 'risky' task strategies in the post-tests fits well with Hocke
y's (1993) fatigue after-effects degradation pattern expected after periods
of high workload. The repeated measurement of the relation of performance,
effort and feelings reveals the dynamics of the pattern of fatigue after-e
ffects over the (recovery) time. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.