Cognitive demands of craft professionals based on differing engineering information delivery formats

The communication of a project's design to craft professionals can affect project performance significantly. Despite advancements in 3D computer modeling and integrated information systems in recent decades, the spatial design is still primarily delivered to the construction workforce in 2D drawings of various views. These views must be combined and encoded to understand all orientations of the engineering element effectively. Three-dimensional computer aided design (3D CAD) and additive manufacturing (3D printing) provide promising alternative formats for presenting spatial engineering information. By asking craft professionals to complete a reconstructing task of a simple structural frame using 2D drawings, a 3D CAD interface, and a 3D printed model, the cognitive workload demands can be measured. After completing the task, the craft professionals were surveyed on their perceptions of mental workload in six main factors using the NASA Task Load Index (TLX): mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration. In addition, the subjects provided insights into their preferences for the different model types. Lower workload scores generally are desirable and indicate lower demands on an individual's mental resources, allowing for concurrent processing of other information. The results found that a physical 3D model, on average, requires lower composite cognitive workloads than either 2D drawings or a 3D computer model. The paper's primary contribution to the overall body of knowledge is the understandng of the cognitive demands of craft professionals when presented with spatial engineering information in various formats.