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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 6, 2026

The Rodent Psychomotor Vigilance Test rPVT: A Method for Assessing Neurobehavioral Performance in Rats and Mice

The Rodent Psychomotor Vigilance Test rPVT: A Method for Assessing Neurobehavioral Performance in Rats and Mice

Published on: December 29, 2016

Signal probability effects on high-workload vigilance tasks.

¹Department of Psychology, University of Dundee, DD1 4HN, Dundee, Scotland, g.matthews@dundee.ac.uk.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|November 12, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

In demanding vigilance tasks, higher signal probability surprisingly worsened perceptual sensitivity over time. Signal probability did not affect response criteria, unlike in less demanding tasks.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Human Factors Engineering
Neuroscience

Background:

Vigilance tasks assess sustained attention.
Signal probability typically influences performance (hit rate, response criterion).
Effects on high-workload vigilance tasks remain under-investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate signal probability effects in demanding vigilance tasks.
Examine impact on perceptual sensitivity and response criterion.
Test resource-depletion and expectancy theories.

Main Methods:

Forty subjects performed high- (.35) and low- (.10) probability vigilance tasks.
Task was designed to be demanding, inducing high workload.
Perceptual sensitivity and response criterion were measured over time.

Main Results:

Perceptual sensitivity decremented more over time in the high-probability task.
Signal probability did not influence response criterion.
Subjective workload was higher for the high-probability condition.

Conclusions:

High workload may alter typical signal probability effects in vigilance.
Findings support resource-depletion theories under high cognitive load.
Expectancy theories may need refinement for demanding tasks.