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Characterizing alterations in attention networks under high mental workload
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  • Published: 27 February 2026

Characterizing alterations in attention networks under high mental workload

  • Lin Wu1 na1,
  • Anping Ouyang1 na1,
  • Xu Tang1 na1,
  • Kewei Sun1,
  • Chaozong Ma1,
  • Tingwei Feng1,
  • Yijun Li1,
  • Lingling Wang1,
  • Huijie Lu1,
  • Xinxin Lin1,
  • Chenxi Li1,
  • Tian Zhang1,
  • Kuiliang Li2,
  • Peng Fang1,
  • Shengjun Wu1,
  • Daqing Huang3,
  • Lei Ren4,5 &
  • …
  • Xufeng Liu1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology

Abstract

With the rapid development of modern society, occupational populations commonly face work states characterized by high mental workload (HMW). HMW can rapidly mobilize and deplete an individual’s cognitive resources within a short timeframe. As attention constitutes a fundamental cognitive quality, it is inevitably impacted by HMW, leading to issues such as impaired attentional function and decreased task performance. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of alterations in attention network under HMW. Participants were recruited from a medical university using convenience sampling. The 1-back Stroop (BS) cognitive task was employed to induce an HMW state. The Attention Network Test-Revised (ANT-R) was completed before and after the induction of the HMW to assess attention network behavior. Eye tracking was assessed using an eye tracker, and subjective assessment was conducted using a visual analog scale (VAS). Statistical analysis was performed using a paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Subjective VAS ratings showed significant increases in mental fatigue (MF), mental effort (ME), mental stress (MS), boredom, and mind wandering (MW) following HMW induction compared to baseline. Behavioral results showed that, compared with before HMW state induction, there were significant differences in alert (sustained attention for maintaining arousal), moving+engaging (selective attention for adjusting and focusing on valid stimuli), flanker conflict (directional conflict between target stimuli and surrounding distracting stimuli) and location conflict (directional conflict between target stimuli and stimulus locations) changes. Alert efficiency values decreased significantly, while moving+engaging, flanker and location conflict values increased significantly. No significant differences were observed in the number of correct trials. Eye tracking results showed that, compared with the state before HMW induction, there were significant differences in average saccade duration and blink count, with a notable increase in both. The ANT-R demonstrates utility both as an experimental paradigm for assessing attention networks and as a behavioral indicator for evaluating HMW. Under the HMW state, significant changes were observed in a subset of behavioral, subjective rating scale, and eye-tracking indicators related to the attention network. This study validated the effectiveness of the BS cognitive task paradigm in inducing the HMW and provided new experimental evidence for revealing the characteristics of attention network changes in the HMW, laying the foundation for the development of assessment and intervention strategies.

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Data availability

The data of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was funded by the Military Medical Science and Technology Tackling Plan of The Fourth Military Medical University (2024SJTK04, 2025JSKY28).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally to this work: Lin Wu, Anping Ouyang and Xu Tang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Military Medical Psychology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710032, China

    Lin Wu, Anping Ouyang, Xu Tang, Kewei Sun, Chaozong Ma, Tingwei Feng, Yijun Li, Lingling Wang, Huijie Lu, Xinxin Lin, Chenxi Li, Tian Zhang, Peng Fang, Shengjun Wu & Xufeng Liu

  2. School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710062, China

    Kuiliang Li

  3. Teachers’ College, Beijing Union University, Beijing, 100011, China

    Daqing Huang

  4. Military Psychology Section, Logistics University of PAP, Tianjin, 300309, China

    Lei Ren

  5. Military Mental Health Services & Research Center, Tianjin, 300309, China

    Lei Ren

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Contributions

LW, conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft preparation, funding acquisition; APOY, writing—review and editing; XT, writing—review and editing; KWS, methodology; CZM, methodology; TWF, investigation; YJL, investigation; LLW, investigation; HJL, investigation; XXL, investigation; CXL, investigation; TZ, investigation; KLL, investigation; PF, investigation; SJW, conceptualization; DQH, conceptualization, supervision; LR, conceptualization, supervision; XFL, conceptualization, supervision, funding acquisition. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Daqing Huang, Lei Ren or Xufeng Liu.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Institutional review board statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Clinical Trial Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of The Fourth Military Medical University (No. KY20234188-1).

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Wu, L., Ouyang, A., Tang, X. et al. Characterizing alterations in attention networks under high mental workload. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41477-4

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  • Received: 29 July 2025

  • Accepted: 20 February 2026

  • Published: 27 February 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41477-4

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Keywords

  • High Mental Workload
  • Attention Network
  • Behavioral Performance
  • Eye tracking
  • Visual Analogue Scale
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