Abstract
The multiple vigilance test is a 30-min signal detection task designed to assess performance. Sixty target and 180 nontarget stimuli are presented with random interstimulus intervals ranging from 4 to 11 sec. Subjects respond by pressing the spacebar (or microswitch in an alternate version of the program) when they see the masking pattern transformed into the target. This vigilance test is used in conjunction with measures of physiological sleepiness (Multiple Sleep Latency Test) and subjective sleepiness (Stanford Sleepiness Scale). This behavioral information concerning manifest sleepiness provides a more complete picture of a subject’s state of alertness. The assessment of vigilance during long, monotonous, nonstimulating tasks is clinically important in patients with disorders of sleep and arousal.
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Hirshkowitz, M., De La Cueva, L. & Herman, J.H. The multiple vigilance test. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 25, 272–275 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03204508
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03204508