Performance Decrements during a Continuous Discrimination Task

1969 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-49
Author(s):  
Alfred G. Klipple ◽  
Lynn M. Scelfo
Keyword(s):  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Test Frequency ◽  
Frequency Test ◽  
Event Frequency ◽  
Over Time

3 experiments involving 48 Ss were conducted to study the effects of four variables (event frequency, test frequency, task difficulty, and mode of responding) on performance in a prolonged discrimination task. As in the typical vigilance study, decrements in performance were observed over time. The variables which generally affect the decrements in the vigilance task, however, did not produce significant effects when continuous discriminations were required.

Methodology for the Prediction of Complex Skill Performance

1975 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-144
Author(s):  
Dale M. Dannhaus ◽  
Charles G. Halcomb
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Behavioral Assessment ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Velocity Estimation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Estimation Task ◽  
Complex Skill ◽  
Skill Performance

There has been a long and continuing interest in psychomotor batteries as a viable means to improve behavioral assessment and prediction in a variety of task situations. The present paper describes the conceptual framework and a methodology which contributed to the development of a general purpose psychomotor battery. The tasks which comprise the psychomotor battery at the present time include a velocity estimation task, a four-choice discrimination task, an auditory vigilance task, and a recognition memory task. A description of each task within the battery is presented. Research on the battery has suggested the potential usefulness of the battery as a predictor of complex skill performance. A summary of the research which has been conducted on the psychomotor battery, as well as future research planned, are discussed.

The Vigilance Decrement Reflects Limitations in Effortful Attention, Not Mindlessness

2003 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca A. Grier ◽  
Joel S. Warm ◽  
William N. Dember ◽  
Gerald Matthews ◽  
Traci L. Galinsky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Workload ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Neutral Stimulus ◽  
Button Press ◽  
Vigilance Decrement ◽  
Vigilance Performance ◽  
Critical Signal ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Nasa Tlx ◽  
Over Time

Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, and Yiend (1997) proposed that the decline in performance efficiency over time in vigilance tasks (the vigilance decrement) is characterized by “mindlessness” or a withdrawal of attentional effort from the monitoring assignment. We assessed that proposal using measures of perceived mental workload (NASA-TLX) and stress (Dundee Stress State Questionnaire). Two types of vigilance task were employed: a traditional version, wherein observers made button-press responses to signify detection of rarely occurring critical signals, and a modified version, developed by Robertson et al. to promote mindlessness via routinization, wherein button-press responses acknowledged frequently occurring neutral stimulus events and response withholding signified critical signal detection. The vigilance decrement was observed in both tasks, and both tasks generated equally elevated levels of workload and stress, the latter including cognitions relating to performance adequacy. Vigilance performance seems better characterized by effortful attention (mindfulness) than by mindlessness. Actual or potential applications of this research include procedures to reduce the information-processing demand imposed by vigilance tasks and the stress associated with such tasks.

Training Procedures and Task Difficulty in Brightness and Position Discriminations by Rats

1972 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Allison
Keyword(s):  
Single Unit ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Training Procedure ◽  
Position Task ◽  
And Task

This research concerned training procedures (correction vs noncorrection), type of discrimination task (position vs brightness), and task difficulty in two 2 × 3 experiments using rats in single-unit mazes. An interaction was found between type of training procedure and task difficulty for the brightness task, with noncorrection Ss requiring relatively fewer trials to reach a criterion than correction Ss as the task became more difficult. A statistically insignificant interaction was found for the position task.

scholarly journals Effects of expected task difficulty on metacognitive confidence and multitasking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxine Tamara Sherman ◽  
Anil Seth
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Prior Probability ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Decision Confidence

In daily life, repeated experiences with a task (e.g. driving) will generally result in the development of a belief about one’s ability (“I am a good driver”). Here we ask how such beliefs, termed self-efficacy, interact with metacognitive confidence judgements. Across three pre-registered experiments, participants performed a perceptual discrimination task and reported their decision confidence. We induced contextual beliefs about performance (our operationalisation of self-efficacy) by manipulating the prior probability of an easy or hard trial occurring in each block. In Experiment 1 easy and hard trials generated the same levels of performance (a “subjective difficulty” manipulation), whereas in Experiments 2 and 3 performance differed across difficulty conditions (an “objective difficulty” manipulation). Results showed that context (self-efficacy) and difficulty interacted multiplicatively, consistent with the notion that confidence judgements combine decision evidence with a prior (contextual) belief on being correct. This occurred despite context having no corresponding effect on performance. We reasoned that performing tasks in easy contexts may reduce cognitive “load”, and tested this, in Experiment 3, by instructing participants to perform two tasks concurrently. Consistent with a reduction in load, the effects of context transferred from influencing confidence on our primary task to improving performance on the secondary task. Taken together, these studies reveal that contextual beliefs about performance facilitate multitasking, potentially by reducing the load of tasks believed to be easy, and they extend psychophysical investigations of perceptual decision-making by incorporating ‘higher-order’ beliefs about difficulty context, corresponding to intuitive notions of self-efficacy.

scholarly journals Heading Perception Depends on Time-Varying Evolution of Optic Flow

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie S. Burlingham ◽  
David J. Heeger
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Temporal Derivative ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
Considerable Support ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Phase Motion

There is considerable support for the hypothesis that perception of heading in the presence of rotation is mediated by instantaneous optic flow. This hypothesis, however, has never been tested. We introduce a novel method, termed “non-varying phase motion,” for generating a stimulus that conveys a single instantaneous optic flow field, even though the stimulus is presented for an extended period of time. In this experiment, observers viewed stimulus videos and performed a forced choice heading discrimination task. For non-varying phase motion, observers made large errors in heading judgments. This suggests that instantaneous optic flow is insufficient for heading perception in the presence of rotation. These errors were mostly eliminated when the velocity of phase motion was varied over time to convey the evolving sequence of optic flow fields corresponding to a particular heading. This demonstrates that heading perception in the presence of rotation relies on the time-varying evolution of optic flow. We hypothesize that the visual system accurately computes heading, despite rotation, based on optic acceleration, the temporal derivative of optic flow.

scholarly journals Heading perception depends on time-varying evolution of optic flow

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (52) ◽  
pp. 33161-33169
Author(s):  
Charlie S. Burlingham ◽  
David J. Heeger
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Temporal Derivative ◽  
Considerable Support ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Phase Motion

There is considerable support for the hypothesis that perception of heading in the presence of rotation is mediated by instantaneous optic flow. This hypothesis, however, has never been tested. We introduce a method, termed “nonvarying phase motion,” for generating a stimulus that conveys a single instantaneous optic flow field, even though the stimulus is presented for an extended period of time. In this experiment, observers viewed stimulus videos and performed a forced-choice heading discrimination task. For nonvarying phase motion, observers made large errors in heading judgments. This suggests that instantaneous optic flow is insufficient for heading perception in the presence of rotation. These errors were mostly eliminated when the velocity of phase motion was varied over time to convey the evolving sequence of optic flow fields corresponding to a particular heading. This demonstrates that heading perception in the presence of rotation relies on the time-varying evolution of optic flow. We hypothesize that the visual system accurately computes heading, despite rotation, based on optic acceleration, the temporal derivative of optic flow.

Decisional Difficulty in Pattern Discrimination

1978 ◽  
Vol 47 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1191-1194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel C. Fulkerson ◽  
Paul S. Mann
Keyword(s):  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Pattern Discrimination ◽  
Relative Influence ◽  
Response Uncertainty ◽  
Uncertainty Condition ◽  
Black And White ◽  
High Uncertainty

To assess the relative influence of decisional ambiguity and response uncertainty on task difficulty, a pattern discrimination task was presented to 60 college undergraduates. The comparison stimuli were nine 20 × 20 matrices of randomly assigned black and white squares, with percent of black squares varying evenly from 10% to 90%. The standard contained 50% black squares. In a low-response uncertainty condition there were two response categories, and five in a high uncertainty condition. It was hypothesized that decisional ambiguity should be greatest at the boundaries between categories. The results suggested that decisional ambiguity was the critical factor determining judgment difficulty.

Предельные совместные распределения статистик трех критериев пакета NIST

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-106
Author(s):  
Максим Павлович Савелов ◽  
M P Savelov
Keyword(s):  
Test Frequency ◽  
Frequency Test ◽  
Cumulative Sums

Найдены совместное распределение и предельное совместное распределение статистик следующих критериев пакета NIST: «Monobit Test», «Frequency Test within a Block» и «Cumulative Sums Test» в случае, когда исследуемая последовательность имеет распределение Бернулли. В случае, когда в критерии «Frequency Test within a Block» используются два блока, найдены попарные ковариации данных статистик.

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