Effects of the rate and regularity of background events on sustained attention

Abstract

Subjects listened for occasional increments in the intensity of recurrent acoustic pulses. Detection probability varied inversely with the rate of repetition of neutral background events in which critical signals were arrayed (the background event rate). Contrary to expectations derived from a habituation model of vigilance (Mackworth, 1968, 1970), the presentation of neutral events in a temporally irregular manner suppressed rather than enhanced the detection of critical signals and failed to attenuate performance differences associated with variations in background event rate. © 1981, The psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.