A Comparative Study of Mental Workload among Truck Drivers: The Effects of Truck Type and Age Using HRV Metrics
DOI: 10.5109/7402636
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Summary
This study investigates the impact of truck type and driver age on mental workload and driving performance among professional truck drivers in Indonesia. Motivated by the high cognitive demands of freight transportation and the associated risks of mental overload, the research aims to identify how vehicle characteristics and aging influence driver safety. The study specifically compares drivers of wing box trucks, tanker trucks, and dump trucks, while also examining age-related differences, to inform human-centered safety interventions and training programs. The experimental design involved 30 professional truck drivers (10 per truck type) with an average age of 38.63 years. Participants performed a simulated motorcycle detection task in a controlled laboratory setting, viewing video stimuli across four driving conditions (rural/urban, day/night). Driving performance was measured by response time, misses, and errors. Mental workload was assessed using Heart Rate Variability (HRV) metrics, including Root Mean Square of Successive Differences (RMSSD), absolute Low Frequency (LF) power, absolute High Frequency (HF) power, and the LF/HF ratio, recorded via a Polar H10 sensor. Data were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and correlation analyses. Results revealed significant differences in performance and physiological workload based on truck type. Dump truck drivers exhibited the slowest response times, the highest number of misses and errors, and the lowest HRV indices (LF, HF, and RMSSD), indicating the highest cognitive and physiological workload. In contrast, tanker truck drivers demonstrated the fastest response times and highest HRV values. Age also significantly affected outcomes; drivers aged 40 and above showed greater performance decline, including slower response times and higher error rates, alongside reduced HRV indices compared to younger drivers. Correlation analysis confirmed that longer response times and increased errors were associated with lower RMSSD, reinforcing the link between elevated workload and impaired performance. The findings highlight that truck type and age are critical determinants of mental workload and driving safety. Dump truck operations impose the greatest cognitive burden, likely due to less stringent handling requirements and rougher operating environments, while older drivers exhibit diminished cognitive flexibility and stress resilience. These results underscore the need for targeted, truck-type-specific and age-adaptive safety interventions, such as specialized training, ergonomic design improvements, and physiological monitoring systems, to enhance driver well-being and reduce accident risks in freight transport.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-08-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| enrich | failed | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-nvidia | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 10 | 2026-08-11 |
| verify | partial | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-nvidia on 2026-08-10; verification: verified_with_issues.
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- Empirical Findings: physiological data, behavioral performance data
- Theoretical Contribution: theory or model