Abstract
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) operators are responsible for maintaining security in various applied settings. However, research has largely ignored human factors that may contribute to CCTV operator error. One important source of error is inattentional blindness – the failure to detect unexpected but clearly visible stimuli when attending to a scene. We compared inattentional blindness rates for experienced (84 infantry personnel) and naïve (87 civilians) operators in a CCTV monitoring task. The task-relevance of the unexpected stimulus and the length of the monitoring period were manipulated between participants. Inattentional blindness rates were measured using typical post-event questionnaires, and participants' real-time descriptions of the monitored event. Based on the post-event measure, 66% of the participants failed to detect salient, ongoing stimuli appearing in the spatial field of their attentional focus. The unexpected task-irrelevant stimulus was significantly more likely to go undetected (79%) than the unexpected task-relevant stimulus (55%). Prior task experience did not inoculate operators against inattentional blindness effects. Participants' real-time descriptions revealed similar patterns, ruling out inattentional amnesia accounts.
Highlights
Reliance on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance is increasing [1,2,3]
We demonstrated inattentional blindness for naıve and experienced CCTV operators using both real-time verbalization measures and post-event recall measures of detection
Inattentional blindness rates were lower when the unexpected stimulus was relevant to the primary monitoring task than when the unexpected stimulus was irrelevant to the primary monitoring task
Summary
Reliance on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance is increasing [1,2,3]. Surveillance operators are responsible for maintaining the security of critical infrastructure (e.g., airports and government buildings) and public spaces (e.g., streets and shopping malls). We investigated the effects of (a) the relevance of the unexpected event to the primary task, (b) length of sustained attention, and (c) operators’ prior task experience on inattentional blindness rates. Stimulusspecific training has been shown to reduce inattentional blindness, and detection research has demonstrated that task familiarity and stimulus-specific training offer similar benefits (cf non-trained, naıve participants) for detection under conditions of increased attentional load. It is unclear if these findings will generalize to the present context
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