A Preliminary Study Examining Novel Training Paradigms for Vigilance

Abstract

Training for vigilance has been a primary research question for over 70 years. Specifically, researchers have fought to lessen the effects of the vigilance decrement, or the typical decline in performance as time on task increases. In the present study, we examine two forms of training for vigilance: practice and knowledge of result (KR). We propose that providing observers with either practice, KR, or a combination of the two during training will improve performance on a transfer vigil. Our results showed observers receiving practice displayed higher sensitivity and increased conservatism during training, as well as a trend toward higher sensitivity during transfer. These results show the benefits of providing observers practice, which include their performance on a transfer vigil as well as the efficiency of the training itself. We discuss the implications of these findings and how they may impact training for vigilance in the future.