Vigilance monitoring--review and practical aspects

Vigilance monitoring is increasingly important in the industrialised world because working tasks are becoming increasingly monotonous and less physically exhausting, resulting in a high risk of falling asleep unintentionally. Among existing tests for the assessment of vigilance, objectiveness plays the most important role in preventing volitional influence by the test subject. In addition, the tests should be simple so that a monotonous situation will emerge. This review gives an overview of important vigilance monitoring systems that are currently in use for research purposes and industrial application. The tests presented are the Mackworth clock test, the VIGIMAR, the Karolinska drowsiness test, tests based on blood pressure and heart rate changes, the psychomotor vigilance test, and experimental tests relying on pupillography and electrodermal activity.