Individual differences in lapses of sustained attention: Ocolumetric indicators of intrinsic alertness.

Abstract

Two experiments examined individual differences in lapses of sustained attention. Participants performed variants of the psychomotor vigilance task while pupillary responses and fixations were recorded. Examining pupillary responses during the interstimulus interval in both experiments suggested that individuals particularly susceptible to lapses of attention (indexed by the slowest response times) demonstrated a decreased pupillary response during the interstimulus interval, whereas individuals less susceptible to lapses of attention demonstrated an increased pupillary response during the interstimulus interval. These results suggest that variation in lapses of attention are partially attributable to individual differences in the ability to voluntarily control the intensity of attention (intrinsic alertness) and fully engage preparatory processes on a moment-by-moment basis. Furthermore, across both experiments additional individual differences factors covaried with lapses of attention, including attention control, working memory capacity, susceptibility to off-task thinking, task-specific motivation, and fixation stability. These results provide evidence for the notion that individual differences in lapses of attention are multifaceted and that variation in intrinsic alertness and other factors are important contributors to this variation.

Pupillometry and the vigilance decrement: Task‐evoked but not baseline pupil measures reflect declining performance in visual vigilance tasks

“…These data do not corroborate previous reports of pretrial baseline predicting performance (e.g., Kristjansson et al, 2009;Unsworth & Robison, 2016), but rather they suggest that, at least within the context of our experiment, the pattern of pupil dilation prior to a detection response may be the more relevant predictor. In this respect, our data are in line with recent PVT studies where the fastest RTs were associated with larger pupil dilations in the ISI (Unsworth et al, 2020;Unsworth & Robison, 2018).…”

“…We recognize that various factors relating to the individual state of the participants could have influenced the results of the present experiment. For example, performance in PVTs is affected by sleep pressure (Blatter et al, 2006), time of day and its interaction with circadian rhythms (Graw et al, 2004;van Dongen & Dinges, 2005), the consumption of stimulants such as caffeine (van Dongen et al, 2001), and individual differences in intrinsic alertness (Unsworth et al, 2020). The current experiment did not control for any of such factors, but this could easily be achieved in a subsequent study.…”

The Opportunities and Challenges of the First Three Years of Open Up, an Online Text-Based Counselling Service for Youth and Young Adults

“…As dividing attention can reduce performance, with potential moderators such as the time of a day, fatigue, and sleep quality [ 28 , 29 ], it is unclear how the division of attention affects counsellors in handling sessions effectively and efficiently. As there are individual differences in the lapse of attention [ 30 ], it remains a question whether there is a one-size-fits-all threshold of the number of concurrent chats for counsellors, as they have different skillsets and handle different types of cases at a different time of a day. The project team is diving deep into the service data as well as counsellors’ and users’ feedback in the hope to address the question.…”

Pupillometry and the vigilance decrement: Task-evoked but not baseline pupil measures reflect declining performance in visual vigilance tasks

“…We recognize that various factors relating to the individual state of the participants could have influenced the results of the present experiment. For example, performance in PVTs is affected by sleep pressure (Blatter et al, 2006), time-of-day and its interaction with circadian rhythms (Van Dongen & Dinges, 2005; Graw et al, 2004), the consumption of stimulants such as caffeine (Van Dongen et al, 2001), and individual differences in intrinsic alertness (Unsworth et al, 2020). The current experiment did not control for any of such factors, but this could easily be achieved in a subsequent study.…”

“…For instance, circadian effects could be controlled for by excluding strong "morning and evening types" (Horne, Brass, & Pettitt, 1980) and by testing participants at the same times during the day, after they have reported having similar amounts of sleep. Alternatively, one could examine how performance and pupillometry vary with respect to individual differences in a broad range of cognitive and self-reported personality factors (e.g., Unsworth et al, 2019Unsworth et al, , 2020.…”