Citation

Dobbins DA, Skordahl DM, Anderson AA. Highw. Res. Board bull. 1962; 330: 9-15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1962, National Research Council (U.S.A.), Highway Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A study was conducted to attempt to predict vigilance performance using a greater variety of psychological predictor measures than are usually reported in vigilance research. It was desired to: (1) examine the reliability and interrelationships between two measures of vigilance performance, and (2) determine the predictability of the vigilance criteria using a wide variety of standardized psychological tests and other measures. The subjects were 111 enlisted truck drivers furnished by the u. S. Army transportation corps to drive loaded vehicles around experimental highway surfaces of the road test project. The group of drivers was separated into two samples, day drivers and night drivers, based on the previous finding that significant differences in overall detection levels, trends and inter-subject variability were found between day-shift and night-shift drivers. Two vigilance criterion scores were developed for each driver, the first a percentage of critical signals detected and the second vigilance score was an index of errors of commission. The various tests and other measures were arbitrarily grouped into eight predictor clusters: Physical, psychomotor, perceptual speed, cognitive, driver aptitude, personal history, personality, attitudinal and reference. Because of skewed distributions, vigilance criteria were converted to normalized standard scores. Correlation coefficients, both pearson product-moment & point-biserial as applicable were computed between predictor and criterion variables. Validity coefficients were corrected for criteria attenuation. The major results showed that: (1) between shift reliability estimates of vigilance criteria were low, ranging from 0.43 to 0.61, (2) intercorrelations between the two vigilance measures were low and not statistically significant, (3) the morale and general driver performance criteria showed low relationships with the vigilance criteria, (4) the relative frequency of significant validity coefficients independent samples was at change levels, and (5) in terms independent samples was at changes levels, and (5) in terms of promise in future validation studies, the personality, personal history, driver aptitude, and perceptual speed predictors seemed relatively more useful. The study indicates that the best practical test battery that could be assembled from the large number of generalized predictors used would be of marginal usefulness even though highly reliable criteria and very low selection ratios were possible.