Page No.151-156
Indramani L. Singh, Trayambak Tiwari and Anju Lata Singh
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
.
This study examined the effects of target expectancy and cognitive demand on the
vigilance performance. 40 students of the Banaras Hindu University were participated in this study. A square of 3.5 cm and a square of 3.0 cm were used as target
and non-target, respectively. All targets were presented at the rate of 15 events per
minute (low cognitive demand condition) and 30 events per minute (high cognitive
demand condition). The ratio of target and non-target in the low target expectancy
was 20:80 and in the high target expectancy it was 80:20. There were six 10-min
blocks in each of the four experimental conditions. Subjects were instructed to
press a designated key on the response pad immediately after detecting a target and
to ignore non-target. A 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 mixed factorial design was used. Speed and
accuracy were recorded as performance measure. Results revealed better vigilance
performance in low cognitive demand and in high target expectancy condition
.