Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of breaks and goal switches on the vigilance decrement

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this report, we examined the impact of rest breaks and goal switches on the vigilance decrement—the change in performance with time-on-task—and subjective stress and workload. In study 1, we examined the decrement in a visual line-length discrimination task employed in previous research. The task had a linear decrement in perceptual sensitivity with time-on-task based on the results of a trend analysis (orthogonal polynomial contrasts). In addition, the task had a profile of self-reported stress and workload similar to other moderately demanding vigilance tasks. In study 2, we examined the decrement in the same task with the factorial inclusion of rest breaks and goal switches late in the task. The inclusion of rest breaks resulted in a significant cubic trend in perceptual sensitivity. After the first rest break, there was a reversal of the linear downward decrement in perceptual sensitivity, but the second rest break did not elicit this change. The inclusion of goal switches did not cause any significant deviation from the linear trend and did not attenuate the decrement. In addition, the inclusion of rest breaks resulted in reduced self-reported effort and temporal demand. The results of the present study cohere with the expectations of a resource depletion account of the vigilance decrement.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ariga A, Lleras A (2011) Brief and rare mental “breaks” keep you focused: deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements. Cognition 118:439–443

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bergum BO, Lehr DJ (1962) Vigilance performance as a function of interpolated rest. J Appl Psychol 46:425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bills AG (1931) Blocking: a new principle of mental fatigue. Am J Psychol 43:230–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter L, Russell PN, Helton WS (2013) Target predictability, sustained attention, and response inhibition. Brain Cogn 82:35–42

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Joux N, Russell PN, Helton WS (2013) A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study of sustained attention to local and global target features. Brain Cogn 81:370–375

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox JG (1977) Quality control of coins. Case studies in Ergonomics practice. Taylor & Francis 1, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Grier RA, Warm JS, Dember WN, Matthews G, Galinsky TL, Szalma JL, Parasuraman R (2003) The vigilance decrement reflects limitations in effortful attention not mindlessness. Hum Factors 45:349–359

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hart SG, Staveland LE (1988) Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of empirical and theoretical research. In: Hancock PA, Meshkati N (eds) Human mental workload. North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp 139–183

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS (2010) The relationship between lateral differences in tympanic membrane temperature and behavioral impulsivity. Brain Cogn 74:75–78

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS, Russell PN (2011) Working memory load and the vigilance decrement. Exp Brain Res 212:429–437

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS, Russell PN (2012) Brief mental breaks and content-free cues may not keep you focused. Exp Brain Res 219:37–46

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS, Russell PN (2013) Visuospatial and verbal working memory load: effects on visuospatial vigilance. Exp Brain Res 224:429–436

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS, Warm JS (2008) Signal salience and the mindlessness theory of vigilance. Acta Psychol 129:18–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS, Hollander TD, Warm JS, Matthews G, Dember WN, Wallart M, Beauchamp G, Parasuraman R, Hancock PA (2005) Signal regularity and the mindlessness model of vigilance. Br J Psychol 96:249–261

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS, Hollander TD, Tripp LD, Parsons K, Warm JS, Matthews G et al (2007) Cerebral hemodynamics and vigilance performance. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 29:545–552

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS, Hayrynen L, Schaeffer D (2009) Sustained attention to local and global target features is different: performance and tympanic membrane temperature. Brain Cogn 71:9–13

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS, Warm JS, Tripp LD, Matthews G, Parasuraman R, Hancock PA (2010) Cerebral lateralization of vigilance: a function of task difficulty. Neuropsychologia 48:1683–1688

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helton WS, Ossowski U, Malinen S (2013) Post-disaster depression and vigilance: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study. Exp Brain Res 226:357–362

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hitchcock EM, Dember WN, Warm JS, Maroney BW, See J (1999) Effects of cueing and knowledge of results on workload and boredom in sustained attention. Hum Factors 41:365–372

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hitchcock EM, Warm JS, Matthews G, Dember WN, Shear PK, Tripp LD, Mayleben DW, Parasuraman R (2003) Automation cueing modulates cerebral blood flow and vigilance in a simulated air traffic control task. Theoret Issues Ergono Sci 4:89–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keppel G, Zedeck S (2001) Data analysis for research designs. WH Freeman & Co, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Langner R, Eickhoff SB (2013) Sustaining attention to simple tasks: a meta-analytic review of the neural mechanisms of vigilant attention. Psychol Bull 139:870–900

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Langner R, Willmes K, Chatterjee A, Eickhoff SB, Sturm W (2010) Energetic effects of stimulus intensity on prolonged simple reaction-time performance. Psychol Res 74:499–512

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lim J, Wu W, Wang J, Detre JA, Dinges DF, Rao H (2010) Imaging brain fatigue from sustained mental workload: an ASL perfusion study of the time-on-task effect. NeuroImage 49:3426–3435

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mackworth NH (1948) The breakdown of vigilance during prolonged visual search. Q J Exp Psychol 1:6–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackworth JF (1968) Vigilance, arousal, and habituation. Psychol Rev 75:308–322

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews G, Campbell SE, Falconer S, Joyner LA, Huggins J, Gilliand K (2002) Fundamental dimensions of subjective state in performance settings: task engagement, distress, and worry. Emotion 2:315–340

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews G, Warm JS, Reinerman-Jones LE, Washburn DA, Tripp LD (2010) Task engagement, cerebral blood flow velocity, and diagnostic monitoring for sustained attention. J Exp Psychol Appl 16:187–203

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCormack PD (1958) Performance in a vigilance task as a function of inter-stimulus interval and interpolated rest. Can J Psychol 12:242–246

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ossowski U, Malinen S, Helton WS (2011) The effects of emotional stimuli on target detection: indirect and direct resource costs. Conscious Cogn 20:1649–1658

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parasuraman R (1979) Memory load and event rate control sensitivity decrements in sustained attention. Science 205:924–927

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rankin CH, Abrams T, Barry RJ, Bhatnagar S, Clayton DF, Colombo J et al (2009) Habituation revisited: an updated and revised description of the behavioral characteristics of habituation. Neurobiol Learn Memory 92:135–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruxton GD, Beauchamp G (2008) Time for some a priori thinking about post hoc testing. Behavior Ecol 19:690–693

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saldanha E (1957) Alternating an exacting visual task with either rest or similar work. Appl Psychol Unit Report 289

  • See JE, Howe SR, Warm JS, Dember WN (1995) A meta-analysis of the sensitivity decrement in vigilance. Psychol Bull 117:230–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw TH, Warm JS, Finomore V, Tripp L, Matthews G, Weiler E, Parasuraman R (2009) Effects of sensory modality on cerebral blood flow velocity during vigilance. Neurosci Lett 461:207–211

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw TH, Finomore V, Warm JS, Matthews G (2012) Effects of regular and irregular event schedules on cerebral hemovelocity during a sustained attention task. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 34:57–66

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw TH, Funke ME, Dillard M, Funke GJ, Warm JS, Parasuraman R (2013) Event-related cerebral hemodynamics reveal target-specific resource allocation for both “go” and “no-go” response-based vigilance tasks. Brain Cogn 82:265–273

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw TH, Satterfield K, Ramirez R, Finomore V (in press) Using cerebral hemovelocity to measure workload during a spatialised auditory vigilance task in novice and experienced observers. Ergonomics 56:1251–1263

  • Stevenson H, Russell PN, Helton WS (2011) Search asymmetry, sustained attention, and response inhibition. Brain Cogn 77:215–222

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson RF (2009) Habituation: a history. Neurobiol Learn Mem 92:127–134

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson RF, Spencer WA (1966) Habituation: a model phenomenon for the study of neuronal substrates of behavior. Psychol Rev 73:16–43

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warm JS (1993) Vigilance and target detection. In: Huey BM, Wickens CD (eds) Workload transitions: implications for individual and team performance. National Academy Press, Washington DC, pp 139–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Warm JS, Parasuraman R, Matthews G (2008) Vigilance requires hard mental work and is stressful. Hum Factors 50:433–441

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Hayden A. Ross, Paul N. Russell & William S. Helton

Authors
  1. Hayden A. Ross
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paul N. Russell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. William S. Helton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William S. Helton.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ross, H.A., Russell, P.N. & Helton, W.S. Effects of breaks and goal switches on the vigilance decrement. Exp Brain Res 232, 1729–1737 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3865-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3865-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation