Concurrent schedule control of human observing during auditory vigilance.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral psychology
• Cognitive science
• Human-computer interaction

Background:

• Vigilance tasks are crucial for understanding sustained attention and decision-making under uncertainty.
• The generalized matching law is a mathematical model used to predict choice behavior in concurrent schedules.
• Previous research suggests human observing responses often conform to the generalized matching law.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate human time allocation in a concurrent variable-interval schedule vigilance task.
• To examine the degree of undermatching to the generalized matching law in this context.
• To assess the effectiveness of a sequential training procedure in reducing undermatching.

Main Methods:

• Six adult humans performed a vigilance task involving auditory signal detection and button press responses.
• Subjects were exposed to concurrent variable-interval schedules of reinforcement.
• A subset of participants received sequential training on individual schedules before concurrent exposure.

Main Results:

• All participants exhibited systematic variations in time allocation, but showed significant undermatching to the generalized matching law.
• The sequential training procedure led to a reduction in the amount of undermatching observed.
• Findings suggest that while undermatching is prevalent, it can be modulated by training.

Conclusions:

• Human performance in concurrent schedule tasks, like vigilance, may deviate from generalized matching law predictions.
• Sequential training can be an effective intervention to improve response allocation and reduce undermatching.
• This study reinforces the applicability of the generalized matching law to human observing responses, with potential for modification.