Page no.-249-256
Tarun Mishra, Naveen, T. Tiwari, Indramani L. Singh, Rakesh Pandey and Tara Singh
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
&
A. L. Singh
Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Varanasi
The present study aimed to examine the effect of task load on visual search sustained
attention task performance. Cue works as a signal and may facilitate or deteriorate the
performance. These effects depend on cue validity and its temporal properties. Present
study used cue validity to observe the effect of cue on participant’s performance. Ninety
participants were randomly assigned into different experimental conditions. A 2 (Task
load: High and Low event rate) X3 (Cue validity: Valid, Invalid and Neutral) X4 (time
block: 10 minutes each) mixed factorial design with repeated measure on the last two
factors was used. Correct detection, incorrect detection and reaction time were recorded
as performance measures to analyze sustained attention task performance. Results
revealed that correct detection and perceptual sensitivity was higher under low task load
condition in comparison to high task load condition. Moreover, response latency was
found better under low task load condition than high task load. Ample evidences have
proven that attentional tasks are resource demanding, when the temporal load of task
increases it works as a catalyst to diminish our ability to perform on task. The present
study holds promises to counter such decrement with the help of cue.