Page No 191-199
Naveen Tarun Mishra, Trayambak Tiwari, Anju L. Singh
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The relationship between arousal and attention has become matter of concern in the
field of cognitive science. Physical exercise has been recognized as one of the best
method to experimentally influence the arousal state among individuals in cognitive
studies. The present study was an effort to examine the effects of different arousal levels
induced through exercise on vigilance task performance. A 2 (Event Rate: Low and
High) ×3 (Exercise protocol: No exercise, mild and intense exercise) ×4 (Time Period:
Four 10 minutes block) mixed factorial design with repeated measure on last factor was
employed. Ninety healthy male students within age range from 19 to 25 years were
assigned into six different experimental conditions and were assessed on forty minutes
vigilance task. Perceptual sensitivity scores were computed as recommended from
signal detection theory. Repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed least
decrement in perceptual sensitivity across time periods under low event rate condition (p
= 0.04). In addition, mild exercise protocols also reported least decrement across time
periods than no exercise and intense exercise, (p = 0.05). These findings suggested
that optimum level of arousal facilitates vigilance task performance across time periods.