Modeling Sensor-based Vigilance Decrement in the Healthcare Environment

Abstract

Vigilance refers to an individual’s ability to maintain attention over time. Vigilance decrement is particularly concerning in clinical environments where shift work and long working hours are common. This study identifies significant factors and indicators for predicting and monitoring individuals’ vigilance decrement. We enrolled 11 participants and measured their vigilance levels by recording their reaction times while completing the Psychomotor Vigilance Test. Additionally, we measured participants’ physiological responses and collected their sleep deprivation data, demographic information, and self-reported anxiety levels. Using repeated-measures correlation analysis, we found that decreased vigilance levels, indicated by longer reaction times, were associated with higher electrodermal activity ( p < .01), lower skin temperature ( p < .001), shorter fixation durations ( p < .05), and increased saccade frequency ( p < .05). Moreover, sleep deprivation significantly affected vigilance decrement ( p < .001). Our findings provide the potential to develop a predictive model of vigilance decrements using physiological signals collected from non-intrusive devices, as an alternative to current behavior-based methods.