Effects of event rate and signal difficulty on observing responses and detection measures in vigilance.

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Abstract
Investigated the effects of event rate and signal difficulty on observing responses and detection decision responses in 12 undergraduates. Event rates of 1 event/3 sec and 1 event/10 sec, externally paced by an auditory cue, were combined with a readily detectable signal and a sub-"threshold" signal. Observing responses were obtained by requiring Ss to key press in order to produce the stimulus display. Conventional vigilance measures, as well as those derived from the theory of signal detection for the difficult-signal conditions only, were used for analysis. Results indicate that event rate had no effect on the readily detectable signal but performance was markedly reduced in the fast event rate condition when the signal was difficult. The simple frequency of observing responses was not affected by any of the variables. Experimental and task variables were related to S's decisions to observe the display as well as the quality of those observations. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

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