Advancing Construction Hazard Recognition through Neuroscience: Measuring Cognitive Response to Hazards Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Robust hazard recognition is critical to reducing the estimated 1,000 fatalities and 230,000 injuries in the U.S. construction industry each year. By adopting methods from neuroscience, this research develops a more accurate method to measure and differentiate cognitive response during hazard recognition tasks. The hypothesis is that the temporal response and cognitive load are influenced by hazard energy source and severity. In a pilot study, engineering students (n = 14) were shown 24 images total in varying (low to high) severity and hazard type (i.e., gradational, mechanical, electrical, and chemical). The results find that the time to peak cognitive activation (i.e., response time) increases as hazard severity decreases. The type of hazardous energy (gravitational, electrical, mechanical, and chemical) also significantly influences the time to peak response. Participants were found to respond more quickly to gravitational hazards while most slowly to chemical hazards. The cognitive energy (i.e., peak or mean cognitive effort) associated with specific regions in the brain such as attention, working memory, topographic memory, and emotional stimuli varied significantly based on hazard type. Most notably, images with severity of gravitational hazards produced a significant increase in activation in the part of the brain associated with topographic memory and motor initiation. Unexpectedly, high severity chemical hazards, were observed to have higher mean activation in the area of the brain associated with unpleasant emotion processing and odor detection. These results serve as a proof of concept that both hazard severity and type are processed using distinctly different regions of the brain. Measuring cognitive demand and localization of brain activation can provide more detailed understanding of the hazard recognition time and neural processing patterns. Future research can begin to test interventions, such as training and mnemonics, to increase hazard recognition response time, attention, and working memory.