Enhanced Performance Using Physiological Feedback

Abstract

Four studies are described designed to investigate (1) the use of blink variables to predict errors in vigilance performance, (2) the relationship between blink latency and decision making, (3) the factors affecting blink latency in a cognitive task, and (4) head and eye movements in acquiring peripheral information. In the first experiment, blinks were not found to be associated with error stimuli any more than they were with correct stimuli. The second experiment investigated the hypothesis that blink latency following a discriminative stimulus is a function of the time at which the decision could be made. Blink latency varied with the duration of the target stimulus, confirming the hypothesis. The third study investigated factors influencing the reduction in blink latency over trials. Components of the response sequence were isolated experimentally. Results suggested that the reduction in blink latency is due to an improvement in the implementation of the instructional rule. In the final study, head and eye movements were studied while subjects responded to peripheral stimuli. The proportion of the gaze shift accomplished by a head movement increased with task difficulty. Also, prior information about the time required by the task affected saccade latency to the peripheral stimulus.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA258006

Entities

People

  • John A. Stern
  • Richard Dobkin
  • Robert Goldstein

Organizations

  • University of Washington

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Facilities
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Calibration
  • Cognition
  • Computer Programming
  • Data Reduction
  • Detection
  • Eccentricity
  • Eye
  • Eye Movements
  • False Alarms
  • Fish
  • Psychology
  • Reaction Time

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Psychology

Readers

  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience