Vigilance

Abstract

This study tested the possibility that the temporal context in which a vigilance task is performed will moderate the perceived workload of the task. We employed a procedure to manipulate participants’ perceived time progression (PTP) during task performance by creating a mismatch between their expectations about how long they would perform the task and the actual time they were engaged (Sackett et al., 2010). All participants worked at the task for 30 minutes. Those in a time drags condition were led to believe it would last 15 minutes while those in a time flies condition were told it would last 60 minutes. PTP was significantly slower in the former condition than in the latter. However, workload scores on the NASA Task Load Index were similar in the two conditions and fell at the upper level of the scale. Evidently, vigilance tasks are perceived as hard work even when time flies.