2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Title: Does task complexity matter? Event-related potential (ERP) data analysis of the Stroop effect in relation to thermal conditions
Interference control, encompassing the suppression of goal-irrelevant stimuli and thoughts, is a critical component of cognitive skills, playing an important role in academic success. The Stroop task, a classic measure of interference control, is used to assess executive functioning and attention processing. It is characterized by an increase in response times, known as the Stroop effect, which involves the controlled inhibition of automatic responses to environmental stimuli. Understanding the various factors affecting cognitive abilities is a key focus in diverse research fields, spanning from education to energy. These factors can be human-related or environment-related. One of the environment-related factors is thermal conditions, previously recognized as having an impact on the learning process. While several studies have explored this impact using various approaches, the evaluation of thermal conditions on inhibition control through Event-Related Potential (ERP) data is relatively uncommon.
ERPs are time-locked electroencephalogram (EEG) activities associated with specific stimuli. EEG, a noninvasive neuroimaging technique, records changes in neuronal electrical activity via scalp electrodes. EEG signals are analyzed based on parameters such as amplitude, frequency, and electrode position. Previous work in our research group has revealed a significant impact of thermal conditions on response times in complex tasks. While this effect was statistically significant in the incongruent condition of the Stroop task, it was weaker in the incongruent condition of the reverse Stroop task and negligible in all congruent conditions. The complexity of incongruent conditions and the Stroop task is inherently higher than that of congruent and reverse Stroop tasks. The reverse Stroop task involves reading, while the Stroop task requires naming the ink color of a presented color word. Theoretical perspectives, such as the automatic reading word theory, suggest that reading is faster than color detection.
In this study, we sought to assess the impact of thermal changes on the ERP component, N200 and N400, and determine whether differences in their negativity could be observed. Ten engineering students from a mechanical engineering department participated in this study. They completed the Stroop and reverse Stroop tasks across three sessions with varying thermal conditions, resulting in a total of 294 data points for each participant. Room temperatures were selected based on standard (ANSI/ASHRAE) guidelines, including 20°C (cool), 24.4°C (neutral), and 26°C (slightly warm). EEG acquisition was conducted using a 24-channel system from mBrainTrain, with synchronization of stimulus presentation achieved through Neurobs Presentation. The study was conducted in a psychometric chamber within the mechanical engineering department facility.
Data processing was carried out using EEGlab, a MATLAB plugin, with necessary modifications to evaluate congruent and incongruent conditions, separately. We utilized the maximum negativity of the N200 and N400 as indicators for interference control in prefrontal electrodes. Statistically significant differences in the N200 negativity between incongruent and congruent conditions were observed in the Stroop test at temperatures of 20°C and 26°C. These findings provide additional support for the idea that thermal conditions can potentially influence interference control and suggest that thermal conditions may impact cognitive abilities, especially when tasks are complex.