In one of two experiments which were previously carried out in male students, 24 female students performed four mental tasks (transcribing, cancelling, adding, and calculating) at maximum effort for 5 min each. On the basis of an objective mental worklord index, i. e., occipital midline beta-2 (Ozβ
2) amplitude, it was shown that all tasks caused a higher mental workload in females than males, though there were no sex differences in Ozβ
2 amplitude at rest. On a subjective mental workload index, i. e., subjective rating of task difficulty (SRTD), however, it was suggested that females had a tendency to perceive a lower mental workload in all tasks than males.
In another experiment, where a paced calculating task was imposed on another 24 female students at five grades of task load for 5 min each, the critical values for excessive workload were estimated to be about 7.0 μV (the difference between the levels at work and at rest) for Ozβ
2 amplitude and 3.5 for SRTD. Hence, it was evaluated that none of the above four tasks constituted an objectively exces-sive workload in females, whereas all of them were excessive in males. Subjec-tively, two tasks that were seen as an excessive workload in females were not in males.
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