Objective: This study investigated the effects of workload history (specifically, sudden shifts in workload) on performance. Background: In 1993 the National Research Council identified workload transition as an important concern for human factors researchers. The study of workload history suggests that what an individual has been doing prior to a point in time has an effect on subsequent performance. One trend emerging from workload history studies is that a general decrement in performance is most likely to occur following a decrease in task demand. Method: The 198 participants were randomly assigned to a high-to-low or low-to-high condition. Participants performed a version of the Bakan Vigilance Task while correct responses, response times, and total errors were recorded. Results: Results supported previous research suggesting a workload decrease results in a performance decrement. More importantly, this study reports that either a sudden increase or decrease could lead to a loss in accuracy and a slowing of response time in a longer time course. Conclusion: An explanation of the decrement is offered in terms of adaptation models. In addition, a follow-up study suggested that the decrement is a result of something inherent in the workload shift rather than an effect of fatigue. Application: Workload history (more specifically, a workload shift) has significant implications for many work environments. These implications are particularly salient in occupations where individuals are confronted with varying levels of workload demand, especially safety-sensitive occupations.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bakan, P. (1959). Extraversion-introversion and improvement in an auditory vigilance task. British Journal of Psychology, 50, 325-332.
2.
Cumming, R.W., & Croft, P.G. (1973). Human information processing under varying task demand. Ergonomics, 16, 581-586.
3.
Davies, D.R., & Parasuraman, R. (1982). The psychology of vigilance . London: Academic Press.
Hancock, P.A., & Warm, J.S. (1989). A dynamic model of stress and sustained attention . Human Factors, 31, 519-537.
6.
Hockey, G.R.J. (1986). A state control theory of adaptation and individual differences in stress management. In G. R. J. Hockey, A. W. K. Gaillard, & M. G. H. Coles (Eds.), Energetics and human information processing (pp. 285-298). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
7.
Hockey, G.R.J. (1997). Compensatory control in the regulation of human performance under stress and high workload: A cognitiveenergetical framework . Biological Psychology, 45, 73-93.
8.
Huey, B. M., & Wickens, C. D. (Eds.). (1993). Workload transition: Implications for individual and team performance. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
9.
Hunt, R.R., & Ellis, H.C. (2004). Fundamentals of cognitive psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
10.
Krulewitz, J.W., Warm, J.S., & Wohl, T.H. (1975). Effects of shifts in the rate of repetitive stimulation on sustained attention. Perception and Psychophysics, 18, 245-249.
11.
Lanzetta, M., Dember, W.N., Warm, J.S., & Berch, D.B. (1987). Effects of task type and stimulus heterogeneity on the event rate function in sustained attention. Human Factors , 29, 625-633.
12.
Mackworth, N.H. (1948). The breakdown of vigilance during prolonged visual search. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1, 6-21.
13.
Mackworth, N.H. (1961). Researches on the measurement of human performance . In H. W. Sinaiko (Ed.), Selected papers on human factors in the design and use of control systems (pp. 171-331). New York: Dover. (Original work published 1950)
14.
Matthews, G., & Desmond, P. (2002). Task-induced fatigue states and simulated driving performance. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , 55, 659-686.
15.
Matthews, M.L. (1986). The influence of visual workload history on visual performance. Human Factors, 28, 623-632.
16.
Moroney, B.W., Warm, J.S., & Dember, W.N. (1995). Effects of demand transitions on vigilance performance and perceived workload. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting (pp. 1375-1379). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society .
17.
Revelle, W., Humphreys, M., Simon, L., & Gilliland, K. (1980). The interactive effect of personality, time of day, and caffeine: A test of the arousal model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 109, 1-26.
18.
Scerbo, M.W. (1998). What's so boring about vigilance? In R. R. Hoffman, M. F. Sherrick , & J. S. Warm (Eds.), Viewing psychology as a whole: The integrative science of William Dember (pp. 145-166). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association .
19.
Schlegel, R.E., & Gilliland, K. (1990). Evaluation of the Criterion Task Set - Part I CTS performance and SWAT data-baseline conditions (U) (Tech. Rep. AAMRL-TR-90-007) . Wright-PattersonAir Force Base, OH: Aeromedical Research Lab.
20.
See, J., Howe, S., Warm, J., & Dember, W. (1995). Meta-analysis of the sensitivity decrement in vigilance. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 230-249.
21.
Selye, H. (1956). The stress of life. New York : McGraw-Hill .
22.
Selye, H. (1978). The stress of life (Rev. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
23.
Warm, J.S. (1984). An introduction to vigilance. In J. S. Warm (Ed.), Sustained attention in human performance (pp. 1-14). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
24.
Warm, J.S., Dember, W.N., & Hancock, P.A. (1996). Vigilance and workload in automated systems. In R. Parasuraman & M. Mouloua (Eds.), Automation and human performance: Theory and applications (pp. 183-200). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
25.
Warm, J.S., & Jerison, H.J. (1984). The psychophysics of vigilance. In J. S. Warm (Ed.), Sustained attention in human performance (pp. 15-59). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
