Control and Automatic Processing During Tasks Requiring Sustained Attention: A New Approach to Vigilance

Abstract

Vigilance decrements are interpreted within a two-process (automatic/control) theory of human information processing, and the theoretical components of the normal vigilance curve are discussed in relation to type of processing and amount of practice. Two experiments were conducted showing significant vigilance decrements when subjects utilized effortful control processing; the normal decrement was not observed when effortless automatic processing was possible. Maximum vigilance decrements occur when subjects must continually and redundantly allocate control-processing resources. Results disconfirm the habituation hypothesis. It is concluded that structuring a task such that there is a consistent relationship between signals and noise will reduce vigilance problems. System design implications suggest that tasks should be structured to minimize continuous and repetitive control processing. Methods for developing vigilance-decrement-resistant automatic processing are discussed.