Mask-wearing: effects on cognitive task performance and cardiac workload indices

Consistent with CDC recommendations and government mandates during COVID, masks are commonly required/suggested in public gathering places like workplaces and schools. Considering the implications for human factors research, the extent to which mask-wearing impacts cognitive abilities and/or workload assessment from cardiac indicators are unknown. This study investigated these effects by engaging subjects in cognitively-loading tasks (math or memory) while not wearing masks, and additionally by wearing one of three types of masks (surgical, N95, and cloth). Results suggest that mask-wearing does not have significant impact on task performance data (accuracy, total question answered) or cardiac indices (heart rate). This study can foster a deeper understanding of the influence of mask-wearing on actual and perceived cognitive workload, and how mask-wearing may mitigate common workload assessment methods. These findings are valuable for informing human subjects research during COVID, and in identifying implications of mask-wearing on domains that impose cognitive work demands.