Abstract
According to Baker (1963), knowledge of results (KR) facilitates vigilance performance by enhancing the generation of accurate expectations regarding the time of appearance of critical signals. The implications of this notion were assessed by comparing effects of true and false (noncontingent) KR within the context of temporally regular and irregular signal schedules. The Ss listened for increments in the duration of recurrent white-noise pulses during a 1-h vigil. Response times (RTs) to signal detections were faster and less variable when signals were presented on a regular as compared to an irregular basis. RTs were also faster and less variable for Ss receiving true or false KR relative to controls who experienced no feedback. However, the facilitative effects of true KR did not exceed those of false KR even when signal presentations were regular in time and apparently predictable. The results are considered as contrary to an expectancy interpretation of the role of KR in the vigilance task.
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This research was sponsored in part by the Institute of Space Sciences of the University of Cincinnati under National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NGL-36-004-014 and by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in conjunction with the Cincinnati Center for Developmental Disorders through Project Nos. 912 and 918.
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Warm, J.S., Epps, B.D. & Ferguson, R.P. Effects of knowledge of results and signal regularity on vigilance performance. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 4, 272–274 (1974). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336723
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336723