Vigilance Tasks: Unpleasant, Mentally Demanding, and Stressful Even When Time Flies

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether perceived time progression (PTP) moderates participants' negative reactions to vigilance tasks.

BACKGROUND

Vigilance tasks are rated by participants to be unenjoyable and as having high levels of workload and stress. Based on the adage, "You are having fun when time flies," we tested the possibility that accelerating PTP might reduce these negative experiences.

METHOD

Two studies were performed, involving a long 30-min and a short 12-min vigil. We manipulated participants' PTP by creating a mismatch between their expectations about how long they would perform the task and the actual time that they were engaged.

RESULTS

PTP was significantly faster for participants who were led to expect that the vigilance task would last longer than it did relative to those led to expect that task duration would be shorter than it actually was and for controls for whom task duration was equal to the expected duration. However, accelerating PTP had no effect in either experiment on undesirable reactions to the vigilance tasks. Participants uniformly rated both tasks as unenjoyable, as having a high level of workload, and as stressful. Apparently, vigilance isn't fun even when time flies.

CONCLUSION

Our findings greatly underscore the depth to which negative subjective reactions are embedded in the nature of vigilance tasks and therefore that these tasks can have potentially serious costs to participants in terms of health, safety, and productivity.

APPLICATION

These costs must be considered at the operational level.

The Independence and Interdependence of Coacting Observers in Regard to Performance Efficiency, Workload, and Stress in a Vigilance Task

OBJECTIVE

We investigated performance, workload, and stress in groups of paired observers who performed a vigilance task in a coactive (independent) manner.

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have demonstrated that groups of coactive observers detect more signals in a vigilance task than observers working alone. Therefore, the use of such groups might be effective in enhancing signal detection in operational situations. However, concern over appearing less competent than one's cohort might induce elevated levels of workload and stress in coactive group members and thereby undermine group performance benefits. Accordingly, we performed the initial experiment comparing workload and stress in observers who performed a vigilance task coactively with those of observers who performed the vigilance task alone.

METHOD

Observers monitored a video display for collision flight paths in a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle control task. Self-reports of workload and stress were secured via the NASA-Task Load Index and the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire, respectively.

RESULTS

Groups of coactive observers detected significantly more signals than did single observers. Coacting observers did not differ significantly from those operating by themselves in terms of workload but did in regard to stress; posttask distress was significantly lower for coacting than for single observers.

CONCLUSION

Performing a visual vigilance task in a coactive manner with another observer does not elevate workload above that of observers working alone and serves to attenuate the stress associated with vigilance task performance.

APPLICATION

The use of coacting observers could be an effective vehicle for enhancing performance efficiency in operational vigilance.

The sustained attention to response task (SART) does not promote mindlessness during vigilance performance

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we evaluated the validity of the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) as a means for promoting mindlessness in vigilance performance.

BACKGROUND

Vigilance tasks typically require observers to respond to critical signals and to withhold responding to neutral events. The SART features the opposite response requirements, which supposedly leads it to promote a mindless, non-thoughtful approach to the vigilance task To test that notion, we compared the SART to the traditional vigilance format (TVF) in terms of diagnostic accuracy assessed through decision theory measures of positive and negative predictive power (PPP and NPP), perceived mental workload indexed by the Multiple Resource Questionnaire, and oculomotor activity reflected in the Nearest Neighbor Index and fixation dwell times.

METHOD

Observers in TVF and SART conditions monitored a video display for collision flight paths in a simulated air traffic control task.

RESULTS

Diagnostic accuracy in terms of NPP was high in both format conditions. While PPP was poorer in the SART than in the TVF, that result could be accounted for by a loss of motor control rather than a lack of mindfulness. Identical high levels of workload were generated by the TVF and SART tasks, and observers in both conditions showed similar dynamic scanning of the visual scene.

CONCLUSION

The data indicate that the SART is not an engine of mindlessness.

APPLICATION

The results challenge the widespread use of the SART to support a model in which mindlessness is considered to be the principal root of detection failures in vigilance.

Vigilance

This study tested the possibility that the temporal context in which a vigilance task is performed will moderate the perceived workload of the task. We employed a procedure to manipulate participants’ perceived time progression (PTP) during task performance by creating a mismatch between their expectations about how long they would perform the task and the actual time they were engaged (Sackett et al., 2010). All participants worked at the task for 30 minutes. Those in a time drags condition were led to believe it would last 15 minutes while those in a time flies condition were told it would last 60 minutes. PTP was significantly slower in the former condition than in the latter. However, workload scores on the NASA Task Load Index were similar in the two conditions and fell at the upper level of the scale. Evidently, vigilance tasks are perceived as hard work even when time flies.