In this article we review recent and potential applications of optical neuroimaging to human factors and usability research. We focus specifically on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) because of its cost-effectiveness and ease of implementation. Researchers have used fNIRS to assess a range of psychological phenomena relevant to human factors, such as cognitive workload, attention, motor activity, and more. It offers the opportunity to measure hemodynamic correlates of mental activity during task completion in human factors and usability studies. We also consider some limitations and future research directions.
Keywords: cognitive engineering; cognitive ergonomics; education; mental workload; performance measures; product design; productivity measures; simulation; training; usability; workload assessment.