Information Processing Load and the Event Rate Function in Sustained Attention

Abstract

One purpose of this study was to determine the functional relation between background event rate and performance efficiency for two types of vigilance tasks (simultaneous and successive discrimination tasks) which differ in the extent of information processing load imposed on the human operator. A second purpose was to compare preditions from two theories of vigilance concerning the consequences of introducing structural dissimilarity (heterogeneity) between critical signals and neutral events – Jerison's (1970) elicited observing rate hypothesis and Posner's (1978) pathway inhibition model. Signal detections generally declined with increments in event rate. However, the degrading effects of such increments emerged at a slower rate of stimulus repetition (12 to 24 events/min) for the successive than for the simultaneous (24 to 48 events/min) task. Signal detections also declined significantly over time. Consistent with Jerison's model, neither the effects of time or event rate were influenced by stimulus heterogeneity.

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