Neuroergonomics Applications of Electroencephalography in Physical Activities: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Recent years have seen increased interest in neuroergonomics, which investigates the brain activities of people engaged in diverse physical and cognitive activities at work and in everyday life. The present work extends upon prior assessments of the state of this art. However, here we narrow our focus specifically to studies that use electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain activity, correlates, and effects during physical activity. The review uses systematically selected, openly published works derived from a guided search through peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. Identified studies were then categorized by the type of physical activity and evaluated considering methodological and chronological aspects via statistical and content-based analyses. From the identified works (n = 110), a specific number (n = 38) focused on less mobile muscular activities, while an additional group (n = 22) featured both physical and cognitive tasks. The remainder (n = 50) investigated various physical exercises and sporting activities and thus were here identified as a miscellaneous grouping. Most of the physical activities were isometric exertions, moving parts of upper and lower limbs, or walking and cycling. These primary categories were sub-categorized based on movement patterns, the use of the event-related potentials (ERP) technique, the use of recording methods along with EEG and considering mental effects. Further information on subjects' gender, EEG recording devices, data processing, and artifact correction methods and citations was extracted. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the findings from various studies, statistical analyses were not performed. These were thus included in a descriptive fashion. Finally, contemporary research gaps were pointed out, and future research prospects to address those gaps were discussed.

Keywords: EEG; brain; ergonomics; human factors; neuroergonomics; physical activity; physical exercise; physical exertion.

Figure 1

Process of selection of the studies according to PRISMA (Moher et al., 2009).

Figure 2

Taxonomy of the reviewed studies.

Figure 3

(A) Works across different categories (B) Works published over year.

Figure 4

Number of recording electrodes versus number of studies included.

Figure 5

Different types of movement patterns under the category of physical activity with less mobility.

Figure 6

(A) ERP and non-ERP studies (B) Different types of physical activities under the category of physical activity with cognition.

Figure 7

(A) Three sub-categories of works with miscellaneous activities (B) Different types of physical activities under the miscellaneous category.