Abstract
The relative effects of three environmental noise conditions on the performance of a simple vigilance task was investigated. The vigilance task consisted of a cathode-ray-tube display that was monitored by 40 subjects for 4 h. Three environmental conditions were randomly introduced while subjects monitored the display. The condititions were a constant noise of 64.5 dB, a variable noise having an average SPL of 64.5 dB, and a quiet condition of 61 dB. The results indicate that the probability of signal detection is higher for the variable-noise condition than for the constant-noise and quiet conditions. No difference in probability of detection was found between the latter two conditions. It is concluded that auditory stimulation has an alerting and general arousal effect on the performance of a monitoring task performed under conditions of mild sensory deprivation. The data are interpreted as supporting an arousal hypothesis.
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