Page No.265-275
Trayambak Tiwari, Anju L. Singh and Indramani L. Singh
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
The present study was designed to explore the effects of task demand and perceived
mental workload on vigilance performance and self-reported stress. Forty
participants were assigned at random to one of two task demand conditions: high
(n = 20) and low (n = 20). Performance metrics and self-reported workload and
stress-states were collected. Overall performance efficiency and the rate of the
vigilance decrement were influenced by the task demand of the signal being
observed. Statistically significant pre-task to post-task decrease in self-reports of
energetic arousal elucidate the vigilance decrement phenomenon (F (1, 38) = 16.66,
p< .001). The significant pre-task to post-task decrease in motivation (F (1, 38) =
12.63, p<.001), concentration level (F (1, 38) = 12.30, p<.001), and the self focused
attention (F (1, 38) = 4.55, p <.03) of the participants would also explicate to some
extent the overall performance inefficiency. The results support a resource theory
perspective in regards to the vigilance decrement