title: Effects of target probability and memory demands on the vigilance of adults with and without mental retardation.
abstract: The vigilance of young adults with mild mental retardation and without mental retardation was compared in two experiments in which observers performed two memory demanding, cognitively based, 60-minute tests. In Experiment 1, target probability was 5% or 30% with a 1.5-second event rate. Detection by observers with mental retardation declined more rapidly than did that of observers without mental retardation in both target probability conditions; further, their response criterion became increasingly more conservative. In Experiment 2, target probability was 10% or 30% with an 8-second event rate. Observers with mental retardation detected fewer targets under both target probability conditions. Subjects' response criterion differed as a function of level of intelligence from the onset of the vigil and did not change with time on task. Intelligence-related differences in vigilance were explained in terms of subjects' information-processing abilities.
authors.affiliation: University of Alabama.
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Tomporowski
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tinsley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D009042:Motivation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011337:Probability Learning; D012691:Serial Learning