Response prompting and response confirmation: a review of recent literature

Money and the Monitor

4 groups of Ss were run under a fourfold combination of financial incentive and no incentive, and knowledge of results and no knowledge of results in a visual monitoring task. Knowledge of results was provided automatically by means of colored lights, and the financial incentive was 5 cents for each detection, minus 5 cents for each commissive error (false alarm). Knowledge of results led to significantly higher detection rates and earnings for Ss ( p < .001), but the financial incentive did not affect performance on any measure. Commissive errors were not influenced by either experimental treatment. The problems of financial incentives and software design for monitoring systems are discussed.

Effects of cueing and knowledge of results on workload and boredom in sustained attention

Two models of recently reported high workload associated with vigilance tasks are the direct-cost and indirect-cost views. The former attributes high workload to the need for continuous observation in discriminating signals from neutral events; the latter attributes it to efforts to combat the boredom associated with monotonous vigilance tasks. These opposing views were tested by providing observers with reliable cueing, which rendered observation necessary only when low-probability critical signals were imminent, or with knowledge of results (KR) regarding performance efficiency. On the basis of cue and KR differences in elicited observation activity and motivational value, the direct-cost model led to the anticipation that cueing would result in a high-boredom, low-workload profile and a greater reduction in workload than KR. The indirect-cost model led to the prediction that cueing would result in a high-boredom, high-workload profile and a lesser reduction in workload than KR. The results clearly supported the direct-cost view that the workload of vigilance is task-induced. Consequently, efforts to combat high workload in complex automated systems requiring substantial monitoring by operators should focus specifically upon task-related determinants.