title: Memory load and event rate control sensitivity decrements in sustained attention.
abstract: The capacity to sustain attention at an efficient level deteriorates over time in discrimination and monitoring tasks. This "vigilance decrement" results from a decrement in perceptual sensitivity only if (i) target discrimination loads memory and (ii) stimulus events occur rapidly; otherwise, the decrement reflects temporal changes in response criteria. These results provide a basis for distinguishing between the perceptual and response processes underlying the vigilance decrement that may be generalized across a range of tasks.
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors