ABSTRACT
The human brain is wired to be able to understand others. Humans are social creatures who rely on nonverbal and verbal signals to convey messages and understand one another. Nonverbal signals include observable physical behaviors, such as facial expressions, head movements, hand gestures, physical posture, muscle tensions, breathing patterns, the use of space, and eye contact. Your brain uses these signals to make predictions, a shortcut to aid the energy-intensive process of understanding. Scientific studies have confirmed that prediction errors occur when signals are missing or distorted during virtual interactions. Most of the information that eye contact is supposed to give your brain to help make informed predictions about others is lost. Faulty predictions based on missed or distorted spatial and vocal signals also occur. Resolving these prediction errors takes more work for your brain and makes it vulnerable to cognitive overload. Issues with cognitive overload are reflected in the experiences of many people who work and learn remotely. Mental fatigue occurs after prolonged periods of cognitive overload and can result in less productivity, less effective learning, and less satisfying interactions.
