Effects of anticipatory alerting signals and a compatible secondary task on vigilance performance

This visual vigilance study simulated an industrial inspection task in which Ss were alerted to possible targets by a semiautomatic detection device. 1 experimental group was forewarned of possible targets by a buzzer with 1-sec foreperiod and rested between alerting signals. A 2nd experimental group worked on a problem-solving secondary task instead of resting between buzzes. A control group observed the display continuously. Other variables of interest were sex of O, target type, and size of display window. It was found that: (1) performance by alerted groups was far superior to that of controls and continued to improve throughout the task, (2) a vigilance decrement was not in evidence in any condition, (3) the problem-solving task did not interfere with detection performance, (4) male and female Ss performed equally well, and (5) Ss engaged in the problem-solving task greatly underestimated the duration of the detection task and reported it "interesting" while the other groups estimated duration accurately and indicated boredom. (16 ref.)