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Two studies investigated whether the sustained attention to response task (SART) is a better measure of impulsive responding than of sustained attention. Participants performed target detection tasks with global-local letter stimuli using one of two response formats: standard, responding to targets; and SART, withholding to targets. In the first experiment, performance in the SART changed rapidly over time, whereas performance in the standard format was stable over time. In the second experiment, performance in the SART was susceptible to global-local condensation tasks, a result previously found with highly impulsive individuals. Overall the results indicate that the SART is sensitive to impulsive responding.

Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, and Yiend (1997) have proposed that detection failures in vigilance tasks result from a 'mindless' withdrawal of attentional effort from the monitoring assignment. To explore that view, they modified the traditional vigilance task, in which observers make button-press responses to signify the detection of rarely occurring critical signals, to one in which button-press responses acknowledge frequently occurring non-signal events and response withholding signifies signal detection. This modification is designed to promote a mindless withdrawal of attentional effort from the task through routinization. The present study challenges the validity of the mindlessness model by showing that with both types of task, observers utilize subtle patterns in the temporal structure of critical signal appearances to develop expectations about the time course of those appearances that affect performance efficiency. Such expectations enhance performance on the traditional vigilance task, but degrade performance on the modified task.

Stress is an important aspect of operational settings. This article presents two studies providing initial psychometric and validation evidence of a short multidimensional self-report measure of stress state, the Short Stress State Questionnaire (SSSQ) based on the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire (DSSQ; Matthews et al., 1999Matthews et al., , 2002. The first study involved the construction and exploration of the factor structure of the SSSQ using data pooled from three samples. These factor analyses differentiated three aspects of subjective stress similar to the DSSQ: Task Engagement, Distress, and Worry. The second study aimed at providing validity information on the SSSQ in regards to its sensitivity to task-stressors. Different task conditions elicited unique patterns of stress state on the three factors of the SSSQ in line with predictions. The 24-item SSSQ appears to be a useful measure of stress state based on the substantially longer DSSQ from which it was derived.

Skilled performance has been characterised, in part, by the capacity to accurately identify and respond to patterns as cues in the environment. The outcome is a reduction in cognitive load and a greater residual capacity to undertake concurrent tasks. The present study was designed to examine the relationship between cue utilisation and temporal pattern recognition in the context of a simulated, rail control task. Sixty-one university students undertook an assessment of cue utilisation and engaged in a rail control simulation. The appearance and movement of trains followed a consistent but implicit (undisclosed) pattern. Throughout the second half of the rail task, a secondary task was included. The results indicated that participants with relatively higher cue utilisation were more likely to identify the implicit pattern of rail movements, were more accurate and responded more rapidly under increased workload conditions. The results suggest that a propensity to identify patterns as cues may provide an opportunity to reduce cognitive demands, thereby facilitating performance in a novel task. Implications for selection and system design are discussed. Practitioner Summary: This study was designed to explain differences in the way in which people learn, particularly when tasks involve recurring patterns. Using simulated rail control, the results indicated that participants who display behaviour that is indicative of the utilisation of cues also recognise patterns in the movement of simulated trains. This enables them to manage trains more effectively, even while undertaking other tasks.

This study was designed to examine whether differences in cue utilization were associated with differences in performance during a novel, simulated rail control task, and whether these differences reflected a reduction in cognitive load. Two experiments were conducted, the first of which involved the completion of a 20-min rail control simulation that required participants to re-route trains that periodically required a diversion. Participants with a greater level of cue utilization recorded a consistently greater response latency, consistent with a strategy that maintained accuracy, but reduced the demands on cognitive resources. In the second experiment, participants completed the rail task, during which a concurrent, secondary task was introduced. The results revealed an interaction, whereby participants with lesser levels of cue utilization recorded an increase in response latency that exceeded the response latency recorded for participants with greater levels of cue utilization. The relative consistency of response latencies for participants with greater levels of cue utilization, across all blocks, despite the imposition of a secondary task, suggested that those participants with greater levels of cue utilization had adopted a strategy that was effectively minimizing the impact of additional sources of cognitive load on their performance.