Measuring and Computing Cognitive Statuses of Construction Workers Based on Electroencephalogram: A Critical Review

Construction workers’ cognitive statuses affecting their safety and productivity are essential for successful construction management. Electroencephalogram (EEG) provides a potential objective tool for measuring and computing the cognitive status of construction workers. This study aims to answer how to adopt EEG for measuring and computing construction workers’ cognitive statuses through a critical review. The literature search and selection process included 21 eligible articles. The content analysis was then conducted from three aspects of investigated cognitive statuses, experiment design, and data analysis. The investigated cognitive statuses include vigilance, mental fatigue, mental stress, attention, mental workload, and emotional state. The experiment design is reviewed from the perspective of participant selection, device selection and electrode deployment, task design, and label selection. The data analysis involves EEG signal preprocessing, feature extraction, and cognitive status computation. Five major limitations of the existing studies have been identified, and five future research directions are proposed to address these limitations. This review provides guidance for researchers to use EEG for measuring and computing various cognitive statuses of construction workers. It also provides valuable suggestions for future research and on-site construction management.