 Our Work
Please use the links provided below to navigate the CASL directory database.
CASL People | CASL Projects | Publications
Project Details:
Principal Investigators on this project:
Performance Factors
Language Analysis and Stress
Project Objective: To understand how stress, for example, inherent to the design of the workspace, influences language performance and how to mitigate the negative effects of these conditions.
Project Definition: Stressors, when present in sufficient quantity or for sufficient duration, may influence job performance positively (by increasing motivation) or negatively (as causing distraction, sensory or emotional overload or obscure signals.) Examples include environmental stressors (poor lighting, crowded work environment or dangerous conditions), work conditions (shift work or time pressure) or conditions of the material (distorted audio or background noise).
Project Importance:
- It is important to understand:
- How stressors impact language performance
- How the negative effects of stress can be mitigated
- How to capitalize on the positive effects of stress
- How environmental factors influence language performance
- Through this research the language community will be better positioned to:
- Understand how stressors impact language performance
- Develop methods to determine when performance has declined
- Develop mitigation strategies to help analysts cope with stressors
Project Background: When individuals are under tremendous amounts of stress, they cannot perform at the levels expected of them. Though no research has specifically addressed how stressors impact the type of work done by language analysts. We will work to identify the stressors that analysts experience, to understand how these stressors impact language performance, and to develop mitigation strategies to minimize the consequent negative effects.
Project Products:
- "Considerations in Workplace Design for Foreign Language Performance" (KRSOC Report) - Addressed how elements of analysts' workspace might impact their ability to perform language work
- Report on team processes and collaboration - reported on existing literature regarding how team processes might affect language work
Project Reports:
- Data Processing for FY05
- The Effects of Noise on FLPs in an Open-office Design
- Team Performance Under Stressful Conditions
Project Activities:
CASL will:
- Perform a baseline analysis of stress in existing workspaces
- Make workspace design recommendations in workspaces slated for construction or renovation
- Perform laboratory experiments to determine the effects of noise and other stressors and irritants on the language analysts' abilities to perform their tasks
- Survey analysts about the stressors in their workplace
- Review the existing literature for information related to language performance under stress
- Develop real time, on-line measures to signal when language performance has declined
|
