Effects of warned and unwarned demand transitions on vigilance performance and stress

Abstract

The present study was designed to explore the effects of warned and unwarned demand transitions in vigilance on performance and self-reported stress. Twenty observers (10 women and 10 men) were assigned at random to each of six conditions resulting from the factorial combination of signal salience (high and low salience signals) and switching (no switch, switch with warning, and switch without warning). Performance metrics and self-reported stress state (Task Engagement, Distress, and Worry) were collected. While demand transitions did destabilize subsequent performance, increasing intra-individual variability, overall performance efficiency was uninfluenced by either switching or warning. Demand transitions, whether warned or not, increased self-reported distress. A dynamic model of performance stress may be necessary and research employing vigilance tasks in the future may be useful for developing this performance-stress model.

Keywords:

• attention
• demand transitions
• stress
• warnings
• vigilance

Acknowledgements

Supported by the Department of Defense's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program administered by the Army Research Office under grant DAAD19-01-10621 to Dr. P.A. Hancock, principal investigator. The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect Army policy. We thank Drs. Mike Drillings, Elmer Schmeisser, and Sherry Tove for providing administrative and technical direction for the grant.