Vigilance performance in a bimodal task

Abstract

Evaluated the need for an arousal construct in a theory of vigilance, as opposed to a theory based on a selective attention construct. Performance over time was examined in a situation involving 2 detection tasks, 1 in each of 2 modalities. 34 undergraduates were instructed to direct their attention to 1 of the 2 tasks, the primary task; the other task was of secondary importance. The main concern was in discovering whether the vigilance decrement would be specific to the primary task, as would be suggested by the selective attention theory, or whether it would be seen in both tasks, as suggested by the arousal construct. Data show that the decrement is task specific. However, it is not always the primary task which shows the decrement. It is argued that neither the construct of arousal nor that of selective attention is adequate, alone, to deal with the vigilance decrement. Results are discussed in terms of these 2 concepts and in terms of some practical implications for the design of real-life displays. (15 ref.) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)