Title: Effect of mobile phone use on attention, reaction time and working memory of office workers

Authors: Fatemeh Sharmandemola; Gholamhossein Halvani; Sara Jambarsang; Amir Houshang Mehrparvar

Addresses: Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran ' Department of Ergonomics, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran ' Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran ' Industrial Diseases Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran; Occupational Medicine Department, Shahid Rahnemoun Hospital, Farrokhi Ave., Yazd, Iran

Abstract: Mobile phone use may affect human's cognitive function, so this study aimed to assess the relationship between mobile phone use and cognitive function. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 132 office workers. The effect of using mobile phones for conversation and social networks during a day, at the workplace and before sleep on working memory, attention and response time was measured using Wechsler and Stroop tests. The average use of mobile phone during the day and night was 49.8 minutes for conversation and 145.8 minutes for using social networks. With the increase in the duration of conversation by a mobile phone during the day and night, the memory recall score decreased significantly, and duration of using mobile phone at work for social networks, significantly increased interference time and decreased reverse memory. The results of this study showed that using a mobile phone could affect some aspects of cognitive function.

Keywords: mobile phone; smartphone; cognitive function; attention; response time; working memory; office workers; cognitive ergonomics; Stroop test; Wechsler test.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2023.135466

International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 2023 Vol.10 No.4, pp.350 - 362

Received: 22 Oct 2022
Accepted: 10 Jul 2023
Published online: 14 Dec 2023 *

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