Global interference and spatial uncertainty in the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART)

Perceptual decoupling in the sustained attention to response task is unlikely

Researchers dispute the cause of errors in high Go, low No Go target detection tasks, like the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). Some researchers propose errors in the SART are due to perceptual decoupling, where a participant is unaware of stimulus identity. This lack of external awareness causes an erroneous response. Other researchers suggest the majority of the errors in the SART are instead due to response leniency, not perceptual decoupling. Response delays may enable a participant who is initially unaware of stimulus identity, perceptually decoupled, to become aware of stimulus identity, or perceptually recoupled. If, however, the stimulus presentation time is shortened to the minimum necessary for stimulus recognition and the stimulus is disrupted with a structured mask, then there should be no time to enable perception to recouple even with a response delay. From the perceptual decoupling perspective, there should be no impact of a response delay on performance in this case. Alternatively if response bias is critical, then even in this case a response delay may impact performance. In this study, we shortened stimulus presentation time and added a structured mask. We examined whether a response delay impacted performance in the SART and tasks where the SART's response format was reversed. We expected a response delay would only impact signal detection theory bias, c, in the SART, where response leniency is an issue. In the reverse formatted SART, since bias was not expected to be lenient, we expected no impact or minimal impact of a response delay on response bias. These predictions were verified. Response bias is more critical in understanding SART performance, than perceptual decoupling, which is rare if it occurs at all in the SART.

Response uncertainty influences response bias in the sustained attention to response task: a signal detection theory perspective

In the current investigation, we modified the high Go, low No-Go Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) by replacing the single response on Go trials with a dual response to increase response uncertainty. In three experiments, a total of 80 participants completed either the original SART with no response uncertainty regarding the Go stimuli, or versions of the dual response SART in which response probabilities for the two possible responses to the Go stimuli varied from 0.9-0.1, 0.7-0.3, to 0.5-0.5. This resulted in a scale of increasing response uncertainty based on information theory to the Go stimuli. The probability of No-Go withhold stimuli was kept.11 in all experiments. Using the Signal Detection Theory perspective proposed by Bedi et al. (Psychological Research: 1-10, 2022), we predicted that increasing response uncertainty would result in a conservative response bias shift, noted by decreased errors of commission and slower response times to both Go and No-Go stimuli. These predictions were verified. The errors of commission in the SART may not be a measures of conscious awareness per se, but instead indicative of the level of participant trigger happiness-the willingness to respond quickly.

A combined experimental-correlational approach to the construct validity of performance-based and self-report-based measures of sustained attention

The ability to sustain attention is often measured with either objective performance indicators, like within-person RT variability, or subjective self-reports, like mind wandering propensity. A more construct valid approach, however, may be to assess the covariation in these performance and self-report measures, given that each of these is influenced by different sources of measurement error. If the correlation between performance-variability and self-report measures reflects the sustained attention construct, then task manipulations aimed at reducing the sustained attention demands of tasks should reduce the correlation between them (in addition to reducing mean levels of variability and mind wandering). The current study investigated this claim with a combined experimental-correlation approach. In two experiments (Ns ~ 1,500 each), participants completed tasks that either maximized or minimized the demand for sustained attention. Our demand manipulations successfully reduced the mean levels of sustained attention failures in both the objective and subjective measures, in both experiments. In neither experiment, however, did the covariation between these measures change as a function of the sustained attention demands of the tasks. We can therefore claim only minimal support for the construct validity of our measurement approach to sustained attention.

Go-stimuli probability influences response bias in the sustained attention to response task: a signal detection theory perspective

The sustained attention to response task (SART) is a popular measure in the psychology and neuroscience of attention. The underlying psychological cause for errors, in particular errors of commission, in the SART is actively disputed. Some researchers have suggested task-disengagement due to mind-wandering or mindlessness, and others have proposed strategic choices. In this study we explored an alternative perspective based on Signal Detection Theory, in which the high rate of commission errors in the SART reflects simply a shift in response bias (criterion) due to the high prevalence of Go-stimuli. We randomly assigned 406 participants to one of ten Go-stimuli prevalence rates (50%, 64%, 74%, 78%, 82%, 86%, 90%, 94%, 98% and 100%). As Go-stimuli prevalence increased reaction times to both Go and No-Go stimuli decreased, omission errors decreased and commission errors increased. These all were predicted from a hypothesized bias shift, but the findings were not compatible with some alternative theories of SART performance. These findings may have implications for similar tasks.

Ignore the faces: Neural characterisation of emotional inhibition from childhood to adulthood using MEG

The ability to effectively and automatically regulate one's response to emotional information is a basic, fundamental skill for social functioning. The neural mechanisms underlying emotion regulation processing have been assessed, however few investigations have leveraged neurophysiological techniques, particularly magnetoencephalography (MEG) to determine the development of this critical ability. The current MEG study is the first to examine developmental changes in the neural mechanisms supporting automatic emotion regulation. We used an emotional go/no-go task with happy and angry faces in a single-site cohort of 97 healthy participants, 4-40 years of age. We found age-related changes as a function of emotion and condition in brain regions key to emotion regulation, including the right inferior frontal gyrus, orbitofrontal cortices and primarily right-lateralized temporal areas. Interaction effects, including an age by emotion and condition, were also found in the left angular gyrus, an area critical in emotion regulation and attention. Findings demonstrate protracted and nonlinear development, due to the adolescent group, of emotion regulation processing from child to adulthood, and highlight that age-related differences in emotion regulation are modulated by emotional face type.

Response Complexity Reduces Errors on a Response Inhibition Task

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this investigation was to elucidate the role of button-response complexity to targets in a response inhibition task.

BACKGROUND

Response inhibition is the ability to correctly inhibit an overt response to a target. The U.S. military is actively pursuing development of armed, combat robots as a force multiplier, which may present challenges to operators of combat robots in the form of response inhibition errors.

METHOD

A total of 15 participants completed two 51-min versions of a modified sustained attention to response task (SART). Participants were outfitted with an electrocardiogram to index heart-rate variability and completed the NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) to index workload.

RESULTS

The results demonstrated that the complex SART reduced errors of commission (4%) and slowed response times (874 ms) to correct Go targets relative to the simple SART (14%, 739 ms). The NASA-TLX did not show differences between the modified SARTs; however, heart-rate variability did demonstrate that Soldiers had an increased autonomic stress response to the complex SART.

CONCLUSION

Increasing the behavioral response requirement during a response inhibition task can decrease errors of commission; however, it comes at the cost of slower response times to target stimuli. Heart-rate variability may provide better insight into objective workload relative to subjective measures.

APPLICATION

The use of complex behavioral responses may provide a viable option to reduce potential "friendly fire" or collateral damage by Soldiers remotely engaging a target-rich environment.

The quick and the dead: A paradigm for studying friendly fire

The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) is a computer based Go-No-Go response task. Participants respond to frequently occurring neutral stimuli and withhold responses to rare target stimuli. Researchers have suggested the inhibition demands of the SART may mirror those which occur in some firearm accidents. Participants in the present experiment used a simulated nonlethal weapon to subdue threats (images of people holding guns) on large screens. Participants completed a target rich task (high Go low No-Go, like a SART), a target sparse task (low Go/high No-Go), a verbal recall task, and dual versions of the target rich and target sparse tasks with the verbal recall task as the secondary task. Results provided further evidence that some accidental shootings may result from failures of response inhibition and that additional cognitive load is detrimental to overall performance. Future studies should explore the role of response inhibition in realistic firearm scenarios.

In search of exogenous feature-based attention

Visual attention prioritizes the processing of sensory information at specific spatial locations (spatial attention; SA) or with specific feature values (feature-based attention; FBA). SA is well characterized in terms of behavior, brain activity, and temporal dynamics-for both top-down (endogenous) and bottom-up (exogenous) spatial orienting. FBA has been thoroughly studied in terms of top-down endogenous orienting, but much less is known about the potential of bottom-up exogenous influences of FBA. Here, in four experiments, we adapted a procedure used in two previous studies that reported exogenous FBA effects, with the goal of replicating and expanding on these findings, especially regarding its temporal dynamics. Unlike the two previous studies, we did not find significant effects of exogenous FBA. This was true (1) whether accuracy or RT was prioritized as the main measure, (2) with precues presented peripherally or centrally, (3) with cue-to-stimulus ISIs of varying durations, (4) with four or eight possible target locations, (5) at different meridians, (6) with either brief or long stimulus presentations, (7) and with either fixation contingent or noncontingent stimulus displays. In the last experiment, a postexperiment participant questionnaire indicated that only a small subset of participants, who mistakenly believed the irrelevant color of the precue indicated which stimulus was the target, exhibited benefits for valid exogenous FBA precues. Overall, we conclude that with the protocol used in the studies reporting exogenous FBA, the exogenous stimulus-driven influence of FBA is elusive at best, and that FBA is primarily a top-down, goal-driven process.

Driver Vigilance in Automated Vehicles: Effects of Demands on Hazard Detection Performance

OBJECTIVE

The current study investigated driver vigilance in partially automated vehicles to determine whether increased task demands reduce a driver's ability to monitor for automation failures and whether the vigilance decrement associated with hazard detections is due to driver overload.

BACKGROUND

Drivers of partially automated vehicles are expected to monitor for signs of automation failure. Previous research has shown that a driver's ability to perform this duty declines over time. One possible explanation for this vigilance decrement is that the extreme demands of vigilance causes overload and leads to depletion of limited attentional resources required for vigilance.

METHOD

Participants completed a 40-min drive in a simulated partially automated vehicle and were tasked with monitoring for hazards that represented potential automation failures. Two factors were manipulated to test the impact of monitoring demands on performance: Spatial uncertainty and event rate.

RESULTS

As predicted, hazard detection performance was poorer when monitoring demands were increased, and performance declined as a function of time on task. Subjective reports also indicated high workload and task-induced stress.

CONCLUSION

Drivers of partially automated vehicles are impaired by the vigilance decrement and elevated task demands, meaning that safe operation becomes less likely when the demands associated with monitoring automation increase and as a drive extends in duration. This study also supports the notion that vigilance performance in partially automated vehicles is likely due to driver overload.

APPLICATION

Developers of automation technologies should consider countermeasures that attenuate a driver's cognitive load when tasked with monitoring automation.

Prolonging the response movement inhibits the feed-forward motor program in the sustained attention to response task

Despite widespread use in clinical and experimental contexts, debate continues over whether or not the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) successfully measures sustained attention. Altering physical aspects of the response movement required to SART stimuli may help identify whether performance is a better measure of perceptual decoupling, or response strategies and motor inhibition. Participants completed a SART where they had to manually move a mouse cursor to respond to stimuli, and another SART where this extra movement was not required, as in a typical SART. Additionally, stimuli were located at either a close or a far distance away. Commission errors were inversely related to distance in the manual movement condition, as the farther distance led to longer response times which gave participants more time to inhibit prepotent responses and thus prevent commission errors. Self-reported measures of mental demand and fatigue suggested there were no differences in mental demands between the manual and automatic condition; instead the differences were primarily in physical demands. No differences were found for task-unrelated thoughts between the manual and automatic condition. The movement effect combined with participants' subjective reports are evidence for time dependent action stopping, not greater cognitive engagement. These findings support a response strategy perspective as opposed to a perceptual decoupling perspective, and have implications for authors considering using the SART. Applied implications of this research are also discussed.

Prior Mental Fatigue Impairs Marksmanship Decision Performance

Purpose: Mental fatigue has been shown to impair subsequent physical performance in continuous and discontinuous exercise. However, its influence on subsequent fine-motor performance in an applied setting (e.g., marksmanship for trained soldiers) is relatively unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether prior mental fatigue influences subsequent marksmanship performance as measured by shooting accuracy and judgment of soldiers in a live-fire scenario.

Methods: Twenty trained infantry soldiers engaged targets after completing either a mental fatigue or control intervention in a repeated measure design. Heart rate variability and the NASA-TLX were used to gauge physiological and subjective effects of the interventions. Target hit proportion, projectile group accuracy, and precision were used to measure marksmanship accuracy. Marksmanship accuracy was assessed by measuring bullet group accuracy (i.e., how close a group of shots are relative to center of mass) and bullet group precision (i.e., how close are each individual shot to each other). Additionally, marksmanship decision accuracy (correctly shooting vs. correctly withholding shot) when engaging targets was used to examine marksmanship performance.

Results: Soldiers rated the mentally fatiguing task (59.88 ± 23.7) as having greater mental workload relative to the control intervention [31.29 ± 12.3, t₍₁₉₎ = 1.72, p < 0.001]. Additionally, soldiers completing the mental fatigue intervention (96.04 ± = 37.1) also had lower time-domain (standard deviation of normal to normal R-R intervals) heart rate variability relative to the control [134.39 ± 47.4, t₍₁₈₎ = 3.59, p < 0.001]. Projectile group accuracy and group precision failed to show differences between interventions [t₍₁₉₎ = 0.98, p = 0.34, t₍₁₉₎ = 0.18, p = 0.87, respectively]. Marksmanship decision errors significantly increased after soldiers completed the mental fatigue intervention (48% ± 22.4) relative to the control intervention [M = 32% ± 79.9, t₍₁₉₎ = 4.39, p < 0.001]. There was a significant negative correlation between shooting response time and errors of commission (r = −0.61; p = 0.004) when preceded by the mental fatigue intervention, but not the control (r = −0.31; p = 0.17).

Conclusion: The mental fatigue intervention was successful in eliciting fatigue which was supported subjectively and objectively. Marksmanship judgment performance is significantly reduced when soldiers are mentally fatigued, although shot accuracy is not.

The Neuroergonomics of Vigilance

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of uncertainty about where in the field of view critical signals for detection appear during a vigilance task (spatial uncertainty) on cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) and oculomotor fatigue.

BACKGROUND

Neuroergonomics is a dimension of human factors founded by Raja Parasuraman that studies brain functions underlying performance at work. Neuroergonomic studies have shown that observers in vigilance tasks lose information-processing resources over time and experience oculomotor fatigue as indexed by a temporal decline in CBFV and elevation in eye closure as reflected in the PERCLOS metric. Because spatial uncertainty increases an observer's need for visual scanning relative to a spatial certainty condition, it was anticipated that spatial uncertainty would result in a greater temporal decline in CBFV and increased eye closure in a vigilance session.

METHOD

Observers performed a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control task wherein collision flight paths were the events to be detected. UAV images could appear at random in any one of five locations on the controller's display (spatial uncertainty) or only in a fixed location (spatial certainty).

RESULTS

Signal detection was poorer in the spatial-uncertain relative to the certain condition, and predictions regarding CBFV and eye closure were confirmed.

CONCLUSION

Vigilance tasks involving spatial uncertainty are more neurophysiologically taxing than those in which spatial uncertainty is not a factor.

APPLICATION

The neuroergonomic approach helps in understanding the effects of psychophysical factors in vigilance and to signify when performance aiding is needed.

Go-stimuli proportion influences response strategy in a sustained attention to response task

The sustained attention to response task (SART) usefulness as a measure of sustained attention has been questioned. The SART may instead be a better measure of other psychological processes and could prove useful in understanding some real-world behaviours. Thirty participants completed four Go/No-Go response tasks much like the SART, with Go-stimuli proportions of .50, .65, .80 and .95. As Go-stimuli proportion increased, reaction times decreased while both commission errors and self-reported task-related thoughts increased. Performance measures were associated with task-related thoughts but not task-unrelated thoughts. Instead of faster reaction times and increased commission errors being due to absentmindedness or perceptual decoupling from the task, the results suggested participants made use of two competing response strategies, in line with a response strategy or response inhibition perspective of SART performance. Interestingly, performance measures changed in a nonlinear manner, despite the linear Go proportion increase. A threshold may exist where the prepotent motor response becomes more pronounced, leading to the disproportionate increase in response speed and commission errors. This research has implications for researchers looking to employ the SART and for more applied contexts where the consequences of response inhibition failures can be serious.

Friendly Fire and the Sustained Attention to Response Task

OBJECTIVE

We investigated whether losses of inhibitory control could be responsible for some friendly-fire incidents.

BACKGROUND

Several factors are commonly cited to explain friendly-fire incidents, but failure of inhibitory control has not yet been explored. The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) could be a valid model for inhibition failures in some combat scenarios.

METHOD

Participants completed small-arms simulations using near infrared emitter guns, confronting research assistants acting as friends or foes. In Experiment 1, seven participants completed three conditions with three different proportions of foes (high, medium, low). In Experiment 2, 13 participants completed high-foe (high-go) and low-foe (low-go) versions of a small-arms simulation as well as comparative computer tasks.

RESULTS

Participants made more friendly-fire errors (errors of commission) when foe proportion was high. A speed-accuracy trade-off was apparent, with participants who were faster to fire on foes also more likely to accidentally shoot friends. When foe proportion was higher, response times to foe stimuli were faster, and subjective workload ratings were higher.

CONCLUSION

Failures of inhibitory control may be responsible for some friendly-fire incidents and the SART could be a suitable empirical model for some battlefield environments. The effect appears to be disproportionately greater at higher foe proportions. The exact nature of performance reductions associated with high-foe proportions requires further investigation.

APPLICATION

The SART may be a useful model of friendly-fire scenarios. It could be used to indicate a soldier's likelihood to commit a friendly-fire mistake and to identify high-risk environments.

Spider stimuli improve response inhibition

Anxiety can have positive effects on some aspects of cognition and negative effects on others. The current study investigated whether task-relevant anxiety could improve people's ability to withhold responses in a response inhibition task. Sixty-seven university students completed a modified and an unmodified version of the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART; Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, & Yiend, 1997) and provided subjective measures of arousal and thoughts. Anxiety appeared to improve participants' ability to withhold responses. Further, participants' performance was consistent with a motor response inhibition perspective rather than a mind-wandering perspective of SART commission error performance. Errors of commission were associated with response times (speed-accuracy trade-off) as opposed to task-unrelated thoughts. Task-related thoughts were associated with the speed-accuracy trade-off. Conversely task-unrelated thoughts showed an association with errors of omission, suggesting this SART metric could be an indicator of sustained attention. Further investigation of the role of thoughts in the SART is warranted.

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.

Impaired sustained attention in adult patients with type 1 diabetes is related to diabetes per se

BACKGROUND

Patients with type 1 diabetes have altered sleep characteristics and are thought to have deficits in sustained attention. We compared the sustained attention to response task (SART) of patients with type 1 diabetes to that of healthy controls, and related results with sleep characteristics and disease-related factors.

METHODS

SART was applied in 122 patients and 109 controls. Glucoregulation was assessed by HbA1c values and a questionnaire assessing glycaemic history. Clinical parameters were obtained from medical charts. Polyneuropathy was assessed by neurological examination and quantitative sensory testing. Sleep characteristics were assessed with sleep questionnaires. Anxiety and depression scores were assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

RESULTS

The SART reaction time (RT) was significantly longer than in controls (327 ± 5 vs. 285 ± 3 ms, p < 0.001), although there were no significant differences in error scores. Repeated measurement analyses showed that diabetes per se was associated with prolonged RT (p < 0.001) and more commission errors (p = 0.010). None of the sleep-related and diabetes-related factors were significantly associated with these SART parameters.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with type 1 diabetes had impaired sustained attention, which was associated with diabetes per se but not with disturbed sleep characteristics.

Friendly Fire in a Simulated Firearms Task

Factors such as poor visibility, lack of situation awareness, and bad communication have been shown to contribute to friendly fire incidents. However, to the authors’ knowledge, an individual’s ability to inhibit their motor response of shooting when a non-target is presented has not been investigated. This phenomenon has been modeled empirically using the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART; Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, & Yiend, 1997) computer task. The SART is generally a high Go/low No-Go detection task whereby participants respond to numerous neutral stimuli and withhold to rare targets. In the current investigation, we further investigate the SART using a simulated small arms scenario to test whether lack of motor response inhibition can be modeled in a more ecologically valid environment. Additionally, we were interested in how error rates were impacted in low Go/high No-Go versions of the task. Thirteen university students completed a computer and simulated small arms scenario in a SART and low Go condition. Both the computer and small arms scenario revealed similar speedaccuracy trade-offs indicating participants’ inability to halt their pre-potent responses to targets even in a more ecologically valid environment. The SART may be used in future studies to model friendly fire scenarios.

Event-related cerebral hemodynamics reveal target-specific resource allocation for both "go" and "no-go" response-based vigilance tasks

Transcranial Doppler sonography was used to measure cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in the right and left cerebral hemispheres during the performance of a 50-min visual vigilance session. Observers monitored a simulated flight of unmanned aerial vehicles for cases in which one of the vehicles was flying in an inappropriate direction relative to its cohorts. Two types of vigilance tasks were employed: a traditional task in which observers made button press ("go") responses to critical signals, and a modification of the traditional task called the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) in which "go" responses acknowledged nonsignal events and response withholding ("no-go") signified signal detection. Signal detections and global CBFV scores declined over time. In addition, fine-grained event-related analyses revealed that the detection of signals was accompanied by an elevation of CBFV that was not present with missed signals. As was the case with the global scores, the magnitude of the transient CBFV increments associated with signal detection also declined over time, and these findings were independent of task type. The results support the view of CBFV as an index of the cognitive evaluation of stimulus significance, and a resource model of vigilance in which the need for continuous attention produces a depletion of information-processing assets that are not replenished as the task progresses. Further, temporal declines in the magnitude of event-related CBFV in response to critical signals only is evidence that the decrement function in vigilance is due to attentional processing and not specific task elements such as the required response format.

The impact of induced anxiety on response inhibition

Anxiety has wide reaching effects on cognition; evidenced most prominently by the "difficulties concentrating" seen in anxiety disorders, and by adaptive harm-avoidant behaviors adopted under threatening circumstances. Despite having critical implications for daily-living, the precise impact of anxiety on cognition is as yet poorly quantified. Here we attempt to clarify the impact of anxiety on sustained attention and response inhibition via a translational anxiety induction in healthy individuals (N = 22). Specifically, in a within-subjects design, participants completed the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) in which subjects withhold responses to infrequent no-go stimuli under threat of unpredictable electrical shock (anxious) and safe (non-anxious) conditions. Different studies have argued that this task measures either (1) attention lapses due to off-task thinking or (2) response inhibition; two cognitive functions which are likely impacted by anxiety. We show that threat of shock significantly reduces errors of commission on the no-go trials relative to the safe condition whilst having no effect on go trials or overall reaction time (RT). We suggest that this is because threat of shock during SART promotes response inhibition. In particular we argue that, by virtue of frequency, subjects acquire a habitual bias toward a go response which impairs no-go performance and that threat of shock improves the ability to withhold these prepotent responses. This improved response inhibition likely falls within the range of adaptive cognitive functions which promote cautious harm avoidance under threatening conditions, although a range of alternative explanations for this effect is discussed.

Fit and vigilant: the relationship between poorer aerobic fitness and failures in sustained attention during preadolescence

With the growing trend toward engagement in sedentary behaviors during childhood, a greater understanding of the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and cognition during development is of increasing importance.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this investigation was to assess the extent to which failures in sustained attention may underlie deficits in cognition associated with poorer aerobic fitness.

METHOD

A sample of 62 preadolescent children between the ages of 9 and 10 years were separated into higher- and lower-fit groups according to their cardiorespiratory fitness.

RESULTS

Findings indicated that lower-fit children exhibited poorer overall response accuracy during a task requiring aspects of cognitive control relative to their higher-fit counterparts, with a disproportionately greater number of errors of omission, and longer, more frequent sequential errors of omission.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that poorer vigilance may contribute to deficits in cognitive control associated with poorer aerobic fitness.

Natural scene stimuli and lapses of sustained attention

We conducted two experiments using naturalistic scene stimuli to test the resource theory and mindlessness theory of sustained attention. In experiment 1, 28 participants completed a traditional formatted vigilance task consisting of non-repeating forest or urban picture stimuli as target stimuli. Participants filled out pre- and post-task assessments of arousal and conscious thoughts. There was still a vigilance decrement, despite non-repetitive, natural target stimuli. Participants found the task demanding and were actively engaged in the task. In experiment 2, 25 participants completed a Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) using the stimuli from experiment 1. Participants performed significantly worse on this SART than either brain injury patients or controls performing equivalent numeric stimuli SARTs have in previous studies. Participants thought the task was demanding and they were actively engaged with the task. Overall, the results of both studies support a resource theory of sustained attention lapses, not a mindlessness theory.

Earthquakes on the mind: implications of disasters for human performance

OBJECTIVE

The present study explored the impact a natural disaster has on human performance.

BACKGROUND

Previous research indicates that traffic accidents increase after disasters. A plausible explanation for this finding is that disasters induce cognitive disruption and this disruption negatively affects performance (e.g., driving quality).

METHOD

A total of 16 participants (7 men and 9 women) performed a sustained-attention-to-response task before and after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake. Performance (errors of omission, errors of commission, and reaction time) was compared before and after the earthquake.

RESULTS

Errors of omission increased after the earthquake. Changes in errors of commission and reaction times were, however, dependent on individual differences in stress response to the earthquake.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that natural disasters may have a negative impact on performance.

APPLICATION

Communities need to be aware of the increased risk of accidents following disasters and develop countermeasures, including individualized assessment tools.

Sustained attention to response task (SART) shows impaired vigilance in a spectrum of disorders of excessive daytime sleepiness

The sustained attention to response task comprises withholding key presses to one in nine of 225 target stimuli; it proved to be a sensitive measure of vigilance in a small group of narcoleptics. We studied sustained attention to response task results in 96 patients from a tertiary narcolepsy referral centre. Diagnoses according to ICSD-2 criteria were narcolepsy with (n=42) and without cataplexy (n=5), idiopathic hypersomnia without long sleep time (n=37), and obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (n=12). The sustained attention to response task was administered prior to each of five multiple sleep latency test sessions. Analysis concerned error rates, mean reaction time, reaction time variability and post-error slowing, as well as the correlation of sustained attention to response task results with mean latency of the multiple sleep latency test and possible time of day influences. Median sustained attention to response task error scores ranged from 8.4 to 11.1, and mean reaction times from 332 to 366ms. Sustained attention to response task error score and mean reaction time did not differ significantly between patient groups. Sustained attention to response task error score did not correlate with multiple sleep latency test sleep latency. Reaction time was more variable as the error score was higher. Sustained attention to response task error score was highest for the first session. We conclude that a high sustained attention to response task error rate reflects vigilance impairment in excessive daytime sleepiness irrespective of its cause. The sustained attention to response task and the multiple sleep latency test reflect different aspects of sleep/wakefulness and are complementary.

Text-speak processing and the sustained attention to response task

We examined performance in a sustained attention to response task (SART) (Experiment 1) and a more traditionally formatted vigilance task (Experiment 2) using novel word stimuli (text-speak) and normally spelt words. This enabled us to address whether the SART is a better measure of sustained attention or of response strategy, and to investigate the cognitive demands of text-speak processing. In Experiment 1, 72 participants completed a subset (text-speak) and a word SART, as well as a self-reported text experience questionnaire. Those who reported more proficiency and experience with text-speak made more errors on the subset SART, but this appeared to be due to their increase in response speed. This did not occur in the word SART. In Experiment 2, 14 participants completed high No-Go, low-Go (more traditional response format) versions of these tasks to further investigate the cognitive demands of text-speak processing. Response latency increased over periods of watch only for the text-speak task, not for the word task. The results of Experiment 1 support the perspective that the SART is highly sensitive to response strategy, and the results of both experiments together indicate target detection tasks may be a novel way of investigating the cognitive demands of text-speak processing.

Drifting from slow to "D'oh!": working memory capacity and mind wandering predict extreme reaction times and executive control errors

A combined experimental, individual-differences, and thought-sampling study tested the predictions of executive attention (e.g., Engle & Kane, 2004) and coordinative binding (e.g., Oberauer, Süβ, Wilhelm, & Sander, 2007) theories of working memory capacity (WMC). We assessed 288 subjects' WMC and their performance and mind-wandering rates during a sustained-attention task; subjects completed either a go/no-go version requiring executive control over habit or a vigilance version that did not. We further combined the data with those from McVay and Kane (2009) to (1) gauge the contributions of WMC and attentional lapses to the worst performance rule and the tail, or τ parameter, of reaction time (RT) distributions; (2) assess which parameters from a quantitative evidence-accumulation RT model were predicted by WMC and mind-wandering reports; and (3) consider intrasubject RT patterns--particularly, speeding--as potential objective markers of mind wandering. We found that WMC predicted action and thought control in only some conditions, that attentional lapses (indicated by task-unrelated-thought reports and drift-rate variability in evidence accumulation) contributed to τ, performance accuracy, and WMC's association with them and that mind-wandering experiences were not predicted by trial-to-trial RT changes, and so they cannot always be inferred from objective performance measures.

Search asymmetry, sustained attention, and response inhibition

In the present experiment, we used search asymmetry to test whether the sustained attention to response task is a better measure of response inhibition or sustained attention. Participants performed feature present and feature absent target detection tasks using either a sustained attention to response task (SART; high Go low No-Go) or a traditionally formatted task (TFT; high No-Go low Go) response format. In addition to performance, we employed functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure lateral cerebral oxygenation levels and self-reports of Tense Arousal, Energetic Arousal, task related and unrelated thoughts occurring during the tasks. Detections were lower and reaction times longer in the feature absent search than the feature present search regardless of response format. Detections were lower, but reaction times shorter in the SART than the TFT regardless of feature search. Greater right than left frontal hemisphere activation occurred in the SART than the TFT. In addition, the SART was more fatiguing based on self-reports than the TFT, but there were no differences in Task-Unrelated Thoughts across task conditions. Overall, the results suggest the SART places high response inhibition, not necessarily sustained attention, demands on participants.

Feature absence-presence and two theories of lapses of sustained attention

We conducted two experiments using search asymmetry to test two theories of sustained attention lapses currently debated in the literature: the mindlessness theory and the resource theory. In the first experiment, participants performed a feature present and a feature absent sustained attention to response task (SART). The mindlessness theory predicts more commission errors in a feature present SART than a feature absent SART, while resource theory predicts the reverse, i.e. more commission errors in a feature absent SART than feature present SART. The latter occurred. In the second study, participants performed a naturalistic scene vigilance task with targets more analogous to a feature present search or more analogous to a feature absent search. The vigilance decrement occurred, with an increase in reaction time to targets over the course of the vigil. The decrement was more pronounced with the targets more analogous to a feature absent search. Overall, the results of both studies support a resource theory of sustained attention lapses, not the mindlessness theory.

Real-time performance modelling of a Sustained Attention to Response Task

Vigilance declines when exposed to highly predictable and uneventful tasks. Monotonous tasks provide little cognitive and motor stimulation and contribute to human errors. This paper aims to model and detect vigilance decline in real time through participants' reaction times during a monotonous task. A laboratory-based experiment adapting the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) is conducted to quantify the effect of monotony on overall performance. Relevant parameters are then used to build a model detecting hypovigilance throughout the experiment. The accuracy of different mathematical models is compared to detect in real time - minute by minute - the lapses in vigilance during the task. It is shown that monotonous tasks can lead to an average decline in performance of 45%. Furthermore, vigilance modelling enables the detection of vigilance decline through reaction times with an accuracy of 72% and a 29% false alarm rate. Bayesian models are identified as a better model to detect lapses in vigilance as compared with neural networks and generalised linear mixed models. This modelling could be used as a framework to detect vigilance decline of any human performing monotonous tasks. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Existing research on monotony is largely entangled with endogenous factors such as sleep deprivation, fatigue and circadian rhythm. This paper uses a Bayesian model to assess the effects of a monotonous task on vigilance in real time. It is shown that the negative effects of monotony on the ability to sustain attention can be mathematically modelled and predicted in real time using surrogate measures, such as reaction times. This allows the modelling of vigilance fluctuations.