Criticisms of Vigilance Research: A Discussion

Abstract

There have been two major criticisms of research on vigilance decrement: (1) that there are few troublesome decrements in the real world and (2) that laboratory research on vigilance, often done with comparatively simple tasks, generalizes poorly to complex tasks in operational situations. The first criticism is supported by research that has failed to find vigilance decrement in operationally relevant situations. The second criticism involves the relationship between basic and applied research. Applied scientists who face immediate practical problems should solve them with quasi-realistic simulation. Simulation-based research has limited generality, however, and should not be seen as a substitute for more general solutions that come from basic research and the variables and laws that it establishes.