Vigilance described by the time-on-task effect in EEG activity during a cued Go/NoGo task.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Psychophysiology

Background:

• Vigilance, the ability to maintain attention during monotonous tasks, declines over time (vigilance decrement).
• Time-on-task effects on attention are linked to changes in electroencephalography (EEG) patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate time-on-task effects on EEG spectral bands.
• To identify a compound measure of vigilance based on EEG spectral features.

Main Methods:

• 148 healthy adults performed a 21-minute cued Go/NoGo task.
• Behavioral performance (errors) was compared between the first and last quarters.
• EEG data were analyzed using multiple linear regression to model time-on-task effects on spectral band power.

Main Results:

• Behavioral performance showed a decrease in omission errors only.
• EEG changes included broad alterations in alpha bands and frontal changes in beta and gamma bands.
• Predictive models for time-on-task had a performance (predicted R-squared) between 0.10 and 0.27.

Conclusions:

• A set of EEG spectral features was identified that reliably predicts time-on-task.
• This EEG-based measure reflects the allocation of mental resources for sustained attention.