Sex Differences in Vigilance Performance and Perceived Workload

Female and male subjects monitored the repetitive presentation of a pair of lines for occasional changes in height (spatial task) or duration (temporal task). Perceptual sensitivity for critical signals favored men in the spatial task, whereas no sex differences in signal detectability existed in the temporal task. Measurements of perceived workload using the NASA-TLX scale mirrored these performance effects. Women tended to rate the overall workload associated with the spatial task to be greater in comparison with men. In addition, women found the spatial task to be significantly more frustrating, mentally demanding, and effortful than men did and rated their own performance lower than their male counterparts did. In contrast, no sex-linked differences in perceived workload were noted in regard to the temporal task. The results support the suggestion by Dittmar, Warm, and Dember (1987) that sex differences in sustained attention are task specific.