What is vigilance?

o High vigilance = a state of

- Operator’s ability to detect signals over time “readiness”/alert
period - A state of low vigilance occurs when the person
- The performance of the operator in a vigilance is already tired and is unmindful of the things
task is gauged by his/her hit rate and false alarm that are happening in the workplace.
rate. o Low vigilance =inattentive, fatigued
- An operator loses vigilance, for example, if there
had been many defects that reach the customer Vigilance Decrement
it may mean a low hit rate brought about by - A deterioration in the ability of the observer to
boredom. remain vigilant for critical signals over time
- From the beginning to the end of a job shift a
Vigilance task person experiences vigilance decrement due to
- Operator is required to detect signals over a long various factors including fatigue.
period of time ex: Quality control, security guard
detecting a robber/abnormality

Signals coming from the environment

- can be characterized according to the rate it is
perceived by the operator
o Infrequent – ex: rate of defect in a
production line (don’t know when it will
appear, but we know it will happen)
o Intermittent – ex: image in a computer - Graph shows that decline starts agad hindi
game (we know what image will appear, naman at the end
there is also a range in time)
o Unpredictable – ex: presence of a bank Trend in operators’ performance in vigilance situation
robber - There is a general trend in the vigilance level of
- can also be characterized according to the ease operators in the workplace
of detecting these signals - Operators show lower vigilance levels than
o The signal may be clear or full of noise. desirable/desired by employers
o An example of a clear signal is a - The vigilance level sometimes decline steeply
distinctive mark of a person from a during the first hour or so of the watch.
crowd. If the person is very tall, for - Example: This can be seen in the way security
example, s/he can be easily detected. guards inspect the baggage of people entering
o However, a person with common traits the mall in a haphazard way. This can probably
will mix with the others and difficult to because of their expectation of a bomb that may
find among other people. be found inside their bags.
o The vigilance level of the security guards
Signals may also be difficult to detect even decline towards the end of their
- low volume, not very different from background shift (near 5pm) when they even skip
etc. inspecting the bags of other people or
converse while inspecting the bags.
Challenge
- to maintain vigilance level in a repetitive job. Two Vigilance Situations
1. Inspection Situation
Vigilance level - Events occur at regular intervals, normally
- the state of the nervous system that mediates happening
performance in vigilance tasks. - The frequency of event is the ratio of the targets
- Performance at one time and the number of events.
- A state of high vigilance occurs when a person is o Event frequency = # of targets / # of
in full attention such as at the beginning of the events
job when the person is fresh and well-rested. - Time not taken into account
- Example: circuit-board inspector
 o Some boards are bad--targets
o Each board is an event
- Example: if a production line is known to
produce 10% defects, then this represents the
event frequency

2. Free-response Situation
- situation the occurrence of an event is uncertain
and unpredictable; Target event may occur at
any time
- The event is a function of time If the figure above only shows different shades of a hue
- Example: the occurrence of typhoons, aircrafts such as red, the operator cannot correctly identify each
that are about to collide, monitoring for one. However, if the color can be distinguished by its
incoming threats, missiles name, mistakes can be prevented.
o In typhoon example, signals that do not In the quality control of a production line where shirts
qualify as typhoons are not counted. need to be sorted according to color, operators are more
o As such, it is difficult to get the event prone to make mistakes because they only rely on how
rate such as in the inspection situation. they perceive the color.
- non-events are not taken into account/ Non-
events not defined Measuring Vigilance Performance
o Event frequency= # of targets / unit time - As mentioned earlier, vigilance is measured by
(e.g., minute) the number of hits such as in the signal detection
theory.
Another Two Vigilance Situations - Signal detection theory w/concept of time
1. Sim-Suc - The performance of the operator, however, is
- In simultaneous situation, target example influenced by the bias of the operator and
shown decrease in sensitivity.
- In successive situation, observer must
remember target Factors Affecting Sensitivity
1. Target Uncertainty
2. Sensory-Cognitive - affects level but not decrement
- Vigilance situation can also be classified - If the observer expects to receive signals at
according to the capability that the operator regular intervals, then the operator will be more
uses in the process of perception. vigilant
- In sensory situation, signals represent changes in - Example: looking for violators in the color-coding
visual or auditory intensity scheme. Since there are many drivers that are
o the operator uses his/her senses such as expected to violate this, police officers are more
listening to morse code signal vigilant
o no cognitive processing
- In cognitive situation, signals are changes in
letters/numbers
o the operator uses higher cognitive
abilities such as in proofreading

Types of Simuli
1. Cognitive Stimulus
- requires reading and understanding
2. Sensory Stimulus
- requires perception
- It is difficult to make mistakes in perceiving
cognitive stimuli compared to sensory stimuli.
 will not have a difficult time identifying the
2. Signal Strength target.
- If the strength of the signal is strong, then the o However, if this information is left to the
operator can easily detect the signal. memory of the inspector, the image will
- Example: signal detection experiment. The ten deteriorate as time goes by. This would
dotted line is too difficult to see. In real life, if result in difficulty in identifying the right
robbers comply to a certain mental model, then target.
it is easier to increase sensitivity.

5. Automized task
- Decrement eliminated
- If the inspection task is done automatically or
3. Event Rate
using a machine, it will not be difficult to find
- speed of the event also affects the sensitivity of
the right target
the operator
- The machine is not capable of feeling fatigue
- ex: speed of conveyor belt
and this is the reason for the constant level of
- If the event is slow, the operator has the
sensitivity over time
cognitive capability to take note of defects
- if the inspection is done by an operator,
- if the event rate is fast, the operator cannot
sensitivity is expected to decrease as a result of
identify most of the targets hits.
fatigue or boredom.

4. Simultaneous tasks 6. Cognitive Stimuli

- produce greater sensitivity, no decrement - Sensitivity increment with cognitive stimuli
(because an example is shown) - In cognitive tasks, sensitivity increases over time
- If the operator is given a guide during inspection because of the learning factor
especially for tasks that involve sensory - Example: finding grammatical mistakes in a
evaluation, the performance will have
report
consistency
o Operator’s performance gets better as
- Example: if a color guide is given when sorting
time goes by because s/he is gaining
shirts according to the right shade, the operator expertise
 - for sensory stimuli this is not the case because - This is because they want to compensate for
the strength of the sensory image diminishes perceived loss of sensitivity in the past.
over time.

- Over time one becomes more conservative

masasabi na no signal palagi
Theories of Vigilance
1. Sensitivity Loss: Fatigue Theory (Broadbent, Factors Affecting Bias
1971) 1. Increases in Target Probability makes observer
- More miss than hits after time because tired more liberal (note no effect on decrement)
- If a subject is required to sustain his attention,
- Example: If the operator expects more hits to
ex: looking at a certain image for a length of time,
encounter during inspection, s/he is more likely
fatigue will set in and the signal will be missed.
to say there is a signal. However, if the target is
o Continued vigilance causes fatigue,
less likely to happen, then the operator always
attentional lapses
says “there is no signal”.
- Successive tasks are more fatiguing than
simultaneous tasks.
- Fatigue increases variability of S+N distributions
o because the subject sometimes cannot
identify the target. The memory
becomes blur and the subject cannot
remember the guideline.

2. Sensitivity Loss: Sustained Demand Theory

(Parasuraman, 1979)
- Sustained attentional demand, or working
memory load
- Leads to demand on processing resources—may
also be fatiguing
- Sustained demand increases variability of S+N 2. Increases in Payoffs makes observer more
distributions liberal (note no effect on decrement)
- Do multiple tasks over time, require demand - If the cost of not making a hit is excessive, the
processing from different sources, getting more operator is more likely to say there is a signal.
tired. - Example: Security guards at the airport are very
o Main reason of getting tired because cautious inspecting baggage because they are
multiple demand aware that the cost of letting in a terrorist is very
high.
Bias Increment o The cost is not only monetary in nature
- Observers are prone to say “there is no signal” as as it also involves the lost of lives and
time progresses. reputation for the airline and the
o Observers become more conservative country.
over time (there is no signal)
 o As such, the authorities are willing to 2. Bias Increment: Arousal Theory (Welford, 1968)
have delays and increase manpower in - Decreased arousal reduces both variability and
order to curb terrorism. mean of N and S+N (signal+noise) distributions
- Operator really is tired, beta actually shrinks
o the evidence that operators look for
does not change.
- Constant sensitivity, effective criterion shift
- Predicts lower P(H) and P(FA)
- Example: In the baggage inspection task, the
operator of the equipment is aware of the
shades and shapes that signals contraband.
o If s/he sees it in the monitor, the traveler
will be apprehended.
o However, if the person is not alert
(aroused), s/he will not be able to see
the signals that are on the monitor.
o If the operator is sleepy, signals will be
missed because there is a great
percentage of time that s/he is yawning
Theories of Vigilance
or closing his/her eyes.
1. Bias Increment: Expectancy Theory (Baker, 1961) - The evidence variable shrinks, while the criterion
- Vigilance decrement of a person is due to shift in remains the same. Percent of hits and false alarm
criterion and not reduced sensitivity are reduced. But the sensitivity d’ remains the
o People set beta based on their same (in standard scores)
expectation of signal frequency. o Sensitivity the same
However, if they think they missed a
signal, they will increase their beta (say
there is no signal).
- Ps(S) subjective probability of signal. If signal
missed Ps(S) goes down
- Vicious circle happens because when the subject
thinks that a signal was missed, the beta will go
upward. This means that the subject will say that
▪
there is no signal because the signal is already
missed and there will be greater chance of
misses.
o Or when a signal is missed, subjective
probability of signals is reduced, causing
upward beta adjustment, thus
increasing the likelihood of a miss, which
in turn further reduced the subjective
probability, thus causing another
upward adjustment of Beta.

- Beta shrinks, probability of getting a hit

decreases
 - Take advantage of naturally attention-grabbing
stimuli, e.g., perception of motion (don’t just use
auditory, also use visual)
o “blinking”: rapid exchange of visual
image of known good prototype and
item to be inspected
- Compress motion of long term events
o segregates signal (coherent) from noise
(random)
- Use redundant coding (multiple sensory
Improving Vigilance Performance modalities, e.g, both visual and auditory)
o Take advantage of naturally attention
• By Increasing Sensitivity (p1) grabbing stimuli
- Show Target examples (reduce memory load) • Sensitivity can also be increased by enhancing
o Show “standard” representation of a the signal. Items can be coded in several ways so
target (picture of defect rather than as to facilitate isolation and inspection. If the
normal) signal involves the auditory sense, the sound
o Simultaneous situation rather than level can be increased in order to minimize
successive mistakes.
- Reduce or vary event rate
o Get more info Adjusting Bias: Shift in Response Criterion
- Training
• Instructions, Training to adjust b to bopt (beta)
o high amounts of practice with a
o Prior probabilities: P(S), P(N)
particular target reduces memory load
o Payoffs C(M), C(FA), V(H), V(CR)
o develops automatic processing (pop-
• Knowledge of Results (KR)
out)
▪ Give them knowledge of the
- Reduce number of potential targets
results
o each inspector looks for a particular
o What is true P(S)?
target
• False Signals
o reduces memory load
o Should lead to higher Ps(S)
• In order to improve vigilance performance, there
o Use tagging, only applicable in some
is a need to increase the sensitivity.
cases
o This can be done by showing target
• Confidence Levels (example: 95% CL)
samples, reducing the event rate,
training the operator to recognize • Rest periods, phone calls, coffee breaks, noise,
targets and reducing the number of biofeedback
potential targets. • Another way to improve performance is to
o The key to improving performance is to adjust the bias of the operator.
address the sensory and memory o If s/he is bias, the optimal beta is not
limitations of the operator. reached. Either there is a low chance of
o As time progresses, the operator hit or a high chance of false alarm.
experiences fatigue and this can cause a o The operators should be trained to be
reduction in performance. sensitive to their performance so they
o If human operators are not able to can properly adjust the direction of their
comply with the demands of the job, it is bias.
worth considering the prospect of o They should also be given information of
automation. the target probability so that they would
know the right level of performance.
Increasing Sensitivity p2

• Signal Enhancement