Cerebral hemovelocity reveals differential resource allocation strategies for extraverts and introverts during vigilance

The Role of State and Trait Self-Control on the Sustained Attention to Response Task

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to assess the plausibility of self-control depletion, or ego-depletion, as the underlying cognitive resource responsible for performance decrements on the sustained attention to response task.

BACKGROUND

Researchers suggested that self-control is a limited cognitive resource used to complete a myriad of processes, including sustained attention. Past research showed that trait self-control affects some sustained attention tasks. However, little research has investigated the effect of self-control as a limited cognitive resource that varies over time (i.e., as a state-dependent variable).

METHODS

This experiment investigated the effect of self-control (trait and state) on a sustained motor-inhibition task (e.g., sustained attention to response task; SART). State self-control was manipulated using a between-subjects design-participants in the experimental condition completed a task designed to deplete state self-control prior to performing the SART while the control condition completed a modified version that did not deplete self-control.

RESULTS

Trait self-control predicted performance on the SART, but the depletion task (state self-control) had no detectable effect.

CONCLUSION

Given the evidence, it is unlikely that state self-control plays a causal role in performance decrements in the SART, but there appears to be some association between performance on the SART and trait self-control.

APPLICATION

Trait self-control ought to be considered in future work for personnel selection in real-world tasks that the SART models such as long-distance driving, air traffic control, and TSA operations.

EEG Coherence Metrics for Vigilance: Sensitivity to Workload, Time-on-Task, and Individual Differences

The vigilance decrement in performance is a significant operational issue in various applied settings. Psychophysiological methods for diagnostic monitoring of vigilance have focused on power spectral density measures from the electroencephalogram (EEG). This article addresses the diagnosticity of an alternative set of EEG measures, coherence between different electrode sites. Coherence metrics may index the functional connectivity between brain regions that supports sustained attention. Coherence was calculated for seven pre-defined brain networks. Workload and time-on-task factors primarily influenced alpha and theta coherence in anterior, central, and inter-hemispheric networks. Individual differences in coherence in inter-hemispheric, left intro-hemispheric and posterior networks correlated with performance. These findings demonstrate the potential applied utility of coherence metrics, although several methodological limitations and challenges must be overcome.

Personality traits and bricolage as drivers of sustainable social responsibility in family SMEs: A COVID‐19 perspective

Motivated by the social and environmental challenges resulting from the COVID‐19 pandemic, this research examines the influence of the “big five” personality traits; extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism on sustainable social responsibility with a mediating role of bricolage. We collected empirical evidence from 245 family‐owned SMEs. The results indicate that the personality traits do not directly influence sustainable social responsibility, although the traits (except extroversion) influence bricolage. Moreover, we found that open, conscious, and agreeable personalities indirectly contribute to sustainable social responsibility, with bricolage as a mediator. Our findings encourage enterprises to focus on those personality traits during crises (especially COVID‐19) that empower people to effectively manage existing resources (e.g., bricolage) and protect their stakeholders. Family‐owned SMEs need to assign resource utilization tasks to family members having personalities of openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism because these kinds of people have high capacities for bricolage.

Effects of state motivation in overload and underload vigilance task scenarios

Vigilance, or sustained attention, is the ability to maintain attention for prolonged periods of time. Interestingly, to date, few studies on vigilance have focused on the role of state motivation in sustaining attention. To address this disparity in the literature, the present study examined the effect of two types of state motivation on vigilance performance across task types (cognitive or sensory) and across the number of displays (one, two, or four). A sample of 105 participants completed a 24-min overload or underload vigilance task in a research laboratory. Participants were randomly assigned to either a cognitive or sensory vigilance task, and were randomly assigned to monitor one, two, or four displays for target stimuli. The results indicated that intrinsic state motivation predicted correct detection performance and state success motivation predicted sensitivity, but not false alarm performance, response bias, or global workload. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical applications of this research.

Does Depleting Self-Control Result in Poorer Vigilance Performance?

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether depleting self-control prior to vigilance results in a steeper vigilance decrement.

BACKGROUND

The resource-control theory of vigilance asserts that an inherent bias toward self-generated mind-wandering draws attentional resources away from the primary task. This study seeks to test whether depleting self-control, the potential mechanism of self-generated mind-wandering, results in poorer vigilance performance.

METHOD

This study featured a between-subjects design where participants either completed a typing task that depleted self-control resources or a standard typing task that did not require self-control before performing a vigilance task. In the self-control depletion condition, participants typed a passage while omitting any "e" and "space" keys. In the standard typing task, participants typed the same passage without skipping any keys. Following both typing tasks, participants in both conditions completed an identical 12-min vigilance task.

RESULTS

Results demonstrated decreased accuracy and increased reaction times over time for both groups. Depleting self-control did not result in significant differences in accuracy, reaction time, nor a steeper vigilance decrement.

CONCLUSION

These results provide evidence against resource-control theory and self-control as an explanation for vigilance, and provide further support for cognitive resource theory as the predominant explanation for vigilance impairments.

APPLICATION

It is still unclear exactly what constitutes a "resource." A better understanding of the nature of these resources can help researchers and practitioners identify how they can be replenished, which could enhance human performance in situations requiring vigilance such as baggage screening.

The shadows in healthcare leadership

This article outlines personality traits such as psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism which, when elevated in health leaders, may have negative effects upon teams, the organizations they work for, and ultimately the public. The implications of such traits for specific core health leadership competency domains are explored as well as potential mitigation approaches to minimize and possibly redirect such personality traits.

Transcranial Doppler Sonography Reveals Reductions in Hemispheric Asymmetry in Healthy Older Adults during Vigilance

Given that older adults are remaining longer in the workforce, their ability to perform demanding cognitive tasks such as vigilance assignments needs to be thoroughly examined, especially since many vigilance assignments affect public safety (e.g., aviation, medicine and long distance driving). Previous research exploring the relation between aging and vigilance is conflicted, with some studies finding decreased vigilance performance in older adults but others finding no effect of age. We sought a better understanding of effects of age on vigilance by assessing neurophysiological change over the course of a vigil in young (aged 18–24) and healthy older (aged 66–77) adults. To measure temporal changes in cerebral blood flow, participants underwent functional transcranial doppler (fTCD) recording during a 1 h vigilance task. Based on research showing a compensatory effect of increased left hemisphere activation during vigilance in young adults and the “hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults” (HAROLD) model, we predicted that during vigilance our older adults would show greater left hemisphere activation but perform at a similar level compared to young adults. While cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) declined over time in both groups, only young adults showed the typical right-lateralized CBFV pattern. Older adults showed greater left hemisphere activation consistent with the HAROLD model. However, the increased left hemisphere activation did not appear to be compensatory as the older adults performed at a significantly lower level compared to young adults over the vigil. Findings are discussed in terms of the HAROLD model of healthy aging and the resource theory of vigilance.

A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study of the effects of configural properties on sustained attention

Forty-five participants performed a vigilance task during which they were required to respond to a critical signal at a local feature level, while the global display was altered between groups (either a circle, a circle broken apart and reversed, or a reconnected figure). The shape in two of the groups formed a configurative whole (the circle and reconnected conditions), while the remaining shape had no complete global element (broken circle). Performance matched the results found in the previous experiments using this stimulus set, where a configural superiority effect was found to influence accuracy over time. Physiological data, measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, revealed elevated activation in the right pre-frontal cortex compared to the left pre-frontal cortex during the task. Additionally, bilateral activation was found in the conditions that formed configurative wholes, while hemispheric differences over time were found in the condition that did not. These findings suggest that configural aspects of stimuli may explain why non-typical laterality effects have been found in similar research.