Cognitive Depletion in the Wild: a Case Study of NMR Spectroscopy Analysis
This work addresses cognitive depletion in professionals performing NMR spectroscopy analysis, but it is incremental as it applies an ethnographic approach to a specific domain without introducing new methods or broad advancements.
The study investigated cognitive depletion by examining NMR spectroscopy analysis, a detail-oriented task requiring domain expertise and concentration, to understand its symptoms, effects on workflow and performance, and mitigation strategies.
NMR spectroscopy analysis is a detail-oriented analytic feat that typically requires specific domain expertise and hours of concentration. This work presents an ethnographic-style study of this analysis process in the context of evaluating the symptoms of cognitive depletion. The repeated, non-trivial decisions required by and the time-consuming nature of NMR spectroscopy analysis make it an ideal, real-world scenario to study the symptoms of cognitive depletion, its effect on workflow and performance, and potential strategies for mitigating its deleterious effects.