Changes in Response Criterion and Lapse Rate as General Mechanisms of Vigilance Decrement: Commentary on McCarley and Yamani (2021)

Abstract

Multiple theories have used perceptual sensitivity and response criterion indices to explain the decrements in performance across time on task (i.e., vigilance decrement). In a recent study, McCarley and Yamani (2021) offered conceptual and methodological advances to this debate by using a vigilance task that parametrically manipulates noise and signal and analyzes the outcomes with psychometric curves. In the present Commentary, we reanalyze data (N = 553) from a different, already existing vigilance task, the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance—executive and arousal components (ANTI-Vea). Psychometric curves with the ANTI-Vea showed robust changes in response criterion and lapse rate, although not in sensitivity. Our interpretation is that the need to keep the standard in memory in McCarley and Yamani’s task could produce a decrease in sensitivity and be related to reduced fidelity of the memory representation rather than to a decrement in perceptual abilities across time on task.