Neuroscience
Pattyn N, Neyt X, Henderickx D, & Soetens E. Psychophysiological investigation of vigilance decrement: Boredom or cognitive fatigue? Physiology and Behavior. 2007 Oct 3; [Epub ahead of print.]
Department of Cognitive & Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan, 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium; Department of Behavioral Sciences, Royal Military Academy, Renaissancelaan, 30, 1000 Brussel, Belgium.
The vigilance decrement has been described as a slowing in reaction times or an increase in error rates as an effect of time-on-task during tedious monitoring tasks. This decrement has been alternatively ascribed to either withdrawal of the supervisory attentional system, due to underarousal caused by the insufficient workload, or to a decreased attentional capacity and thus the impossibility to sustain mental effort. Furthermore, it has previously been reported that controlled processing is the locus of the vigilance decrement. This study aimed at answering three questions, to better define sustained attention. First, is endogenous attention more vulnerable to time-on-task than exogenous attention? Second, do measures of autonomic arousal provide evidence to support the underload vs overload hypothesis? And third, do these measures show a different effect for endogenous and exogenous attention? We applied a cued (valid vs invalid) conjunction search task, and ECG and respiration recordings were used to compute sympathetic (normalized low frequency power) and parasympathetic tone (respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA). Behavioural results showed a dual effect of time-on-task: the usually described vigilance decrement, expressed as increased reaction times (RTs) after 30 min for both conditions; and a higher cost in RTs after invalid cues for the endogenous condition only, appearing after 60 min. Physiological results clearly support the underload hypothesis to subtend the vigilance decrement, since heart period and RSA increased over time-on-task. There was no physiological difference between the endogenous and exogenous conditions. Subjective experience of participants was more compatible with boredom than with high mental effort.
PMID: 17999934 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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Neuroscience
Neuropsychology Abstract of the Day: Attention
Pattyn N, Neyt X, Henderickx D, & Soetens E. Psychophysiological investigation of vigilance decrement: Boredom or cognitive fatigue? Physiology and Behavior. 2007 Oct 3; [Epub ahead of print.]
Department of Cognitive & Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan, 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium; Department of Behavioral Sciences, Royal Military Academy, Renaissancelaan, 30, 1000 Brussel, Belgium.
The vigilance decrement has been described as a slowing in reaction times or an increase in error rates as an effect of time-on-task during tedious monitoring tasks. This decrement has been alternatively ascribed to either withdrawal of the supervisory attentional system, due to underarousal caused by the insufficient workload, or to a decreased attentional capacity and thus the impossibility to sustain mental effort. Furthermore, it has previously been reported that controlled processing is the locus of the vigilance decrement. This study aimed at answering three questions, to better define sustained attention. First, is endogenous attention more vulnerable to time-on-task than exogenous attention? Second, do measures of autonomic arousal provide evidence to support the underload vs overload hypothesis? And third, do these measures show a different effect for endogenous and exogenous attention? We applied a cued (valid vs invalid) conjunction search task, and ECG and respiration recordings were used to compute sympathetic (normalized low frequency power) and parasympathetic tone (respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA). Behavioural results showed a dual effect of time-on-task: the usually described vigilance decrement, expressed as increased reaction times (RTs) after 30 min for both conditions; and a higher cost in RTs after invalid cues for the endogenous condition only, appearing after 60 min. Physiological results clearly support the underload hypothesis to subtend the vigilance decrement, since heart period and RSA increased over time-on-task. There was no physiological difference between the endogenous and exogenous conditions. Subjective experience of participants was more compatible with boredom than with high mental effort.
PMID: 17999934 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
- Introspection Reborn!
Introspection - people reporting their subjective experience of their own mental processes - was a favoured technique among psychology's founding fathers. Today, by contrast, it has a poor reputation, often dismissed as unreliable and unscientific....
- People Prone To Boredom Less Able To Judge Short Intervals Of Time
It’s no wonder they get bored. According to psychologists James Danckert and Ava-Ann Allman at the University of Waterloo in Canada, time really does pass more slowly for people who are prone to boredom. The researchers came to this conclusion after...
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Decrease in gait variability while counting backward: a marker of "magnet effect"? Journal of Neural Transmission. 2010 Oct; 117(10): 1171-1176 Beauchet O, Allali G, Poujol L, Barthelemy JC, Roche F, Annweiler C Abstract Counting backward (CB) and walking...
- Abstract Of The Day: Of Time And The River
Takahashi T. Time-estimation error following Weber-Fechner law may explain subadditive time-discounting.. Medical Hypotheses. 2006 Jul 25; [Epub ahead of print] Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro,...
- Abstract Of The Day: Fmri And Auditory Attention
Nakai T, Kato C, & Matsuo K. An FMRI study to investigate auditory attention: A model of the cocktail party phenomenon. Magnetic Resonance Medical Science. 2005; 4(2): 75-82. Functional Brain Imaging Laboratory, Department of Gerontechnology, National...