Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/10316/105462
Title: | Can EEG Be Adopted as a Neuroscience Reference for Assessing Software Programmers' Cognitive Load? | Authors: | Medeiros, Júlio Couceiro, Ricardo Duarte, Gonçalo Durães, João Castelhano, João Duarte, Catarina Castelo-Branco, Miguel Madeira, Henrique Carvalho, Paulo de Teixeira, César |
Keywords: | software engineering; bio-signal processing; electroencephalogram; biofeedback; human error | Issue Date: | 27-Mar-2021 | Publisher: | MDPI | Serial title, monograph or event: | Sensors | Volume: | 21 | Issue: | 7 | Abstract: | An emergent research area in software engineering and software reliability is the use of wearable biosensors to monitor the cognitive state of software developers during software development tasks. The goal is to gather physiologic manifestations that can be linked to error-prone scenarios related to programmers' cognitive states. In this paper we investigate whether electroencephalography (EEG) can be applied to accurately identify programmers' cognitive load associated with the comprehension of code with different complexity levels. Therefore, a controlled experiment involving 26 programmers was carried. We found that features related to Theta, Alpha, and Beta brain waves have the highest discriminative power, allowing the identification of code lines and demanding higher mental effort. The EEG results reveal evidence of mental effort saturation as code complexity increases. Conversely, the classic software complexity metrics do not accurately represent the mental effort involved in code comprehension. Finally, EEG is proposed as a reference, in particular, the combination of EEG with eye tracking information allows for an accurate identification of code lines that correspond to peaks of cognitive load, providing a reference to help in the future evaluation of the space and time accuracy of programmers' cognitive state monitored using wearable devices compatible with software development activities. | URI: | https://hdl.handle.net/10316/105462 | ISSN: | 1424-8220 | DOI: | 10.3390/s21072338 | Rights: | openAccess |
Appears in Collections: | I&D CISUC - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais I&D ICNAS - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais I&D CIBIT - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Can-EEG-be-adopted-as-a-neuroscience-reference-for-assessing-software-programmers-cognitive-loadSensors.pdf | 5.51 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
SCOPUSTM
Citations
20
checked on Aug 26, 2024
WEB OF SCIENCETM
Citations
15
checked on Aug 2, 2024
Page view(s)
91
checked on Aug 27, 2024
Download(s)
45
checked on Aug 27, 2024
Google ScholarTM
Check
Altmetric
Altmetric
This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License