In this task, you will see words appear briefly in the black space above one at a time. Your goal is to watch for any words that represent FOUR-LEGGED CREATURES. If you see a word that corresponds to a FOUR-LEGGED CREATURE, press the space bar as quickly as you can. If a presented word does not represent a FOUR-LEGGED CREATURE, do nothing. Best performance is achieved by sitting with your dominant hand poised over the space bar. You must respond before the next word appears. Remember, if you see a word that represents a FOUR-LEGGED CREATURE, then press space bar, otherwise do nothing.
Press 'Begin' to start the experiment.

By clicking 'I Consent' you are not waiving your legal rights or releasing the investigators or institution from their legal and professional responsibilities. This project has been reviewed by, and received ethics clearance through the UW Research Ethics Committee. With full knowledge of all foregoing, I agree, of my own free will, to participate in this study.

As a part of the research we are collecting general demographic information.

You are not required to complete these questions.

However, doing so will help us better understand our results.

1. Male Female

2. Age

4. Vision

Normal eyesight without needing glasses
Corrected Vision (wear glasses)
Poor eyesight and do not wear glasses

5. English Ability

First-language speaker
Second-language speaker

THIS EXPERIMENT MAY NOT WORK IN INTERNET EXPLORER - IF YOU ARE USING INTERNET EXPLORE, PLEASE CLOSE THE WINDOW AND THEN COMPLETE THE EXPERIMENT IN A DIFFERENT BROWSER (I.E. CHROME, SAFARI, FIREFOX).

Title: Vigilance and Distraction

Investigators: Dr. David R. Thomson, Dr. Daniel Smilek, Dr. Derek Besner

Purpose:

You are invited to participate in a study to investigate the relationship between distraction and attention over time.

Methods/Procedure:

If you agree to participate in this, you will be asked to complete a computer task in which you will be asked to monitor a visual display and detect certain categories of words by making a key press. You may also be asked to answer a few short questions regarding your experience after completing this task. Participation is strictly voluntary.

Benefits:

There are no direct benefits to you for participating in this experiment, however you may experience boredom or fatigue due to the repetitive nature of the task. You will not be required to provide a reason for terminating the session, nor will you receive any kind of penalty or loss of credit.

Confidentiality/Anonymity:

The data that you provide by participating in this experiment wil not be tied to any personal identifiers. Your individual data will be associated with an alpha-numeric code which cannot be directly connected back to you. All published or reported data that are gathered in this study are reported as group averages - no individual participant's results will be reported. All electronic data will be retained for at least 7 years on a password- protected computer in a locked room that can only be accessed by the researchers.

Contact:

In addition, if you have any follow-up questions regarding the details of this study, do not hesitate to contact David R. Thomson by email (d5thomso@uwaterloo.ca) or phone (1-519-888-4567 ext. 36819).

Ethics Clearance:

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a UW Research Ethics Committee. However, the final decision about participation is yours. If you have any comments or concerns resulting from your participation in this study, please contact: Dr. Maureen Nummelin, Director, Office of Research Ethics. Phone: (1-519-888-4567 ext. 36005), Email: (Maureen.nummelin@uwaterloo.ca).

To help us better understand your experiences, please answer the following questions to the best of your ability about the task you just completed. Make your response by typing a number from 0 (Very low) to 21 (Very high) in the text box below each question.

1. How mentally demanding was the task? [0 = Very Low, 21 = Very High]

2. How physically demanding was the task? [0 = Very Low, 21 = Very High]

3. How hurried or rushed was the pace of the task? [0 = Very Low, 21 = Very High]

4. How do you rate your success in accomplishing the task? [0 = Very Low, 21 = Very High]

5. How hard did you have to work to accomplish your level of performance? [0 = Very Low, 21 = Very High]

6. How insecure, discouraged, irritated, stressed, and annoyed were you? [0 = Very Low, 21 = Very High]

7. How would you rate your boredom level during the task? [0 = Very Low, 21 = Very High]

8. How would you rate your level of mind wandering (task-unrelated thought) during the task? [0 = Very Low, 21 = Very High]

Once you click the 'Finish the Experiment' button, you will see a blank page. This means you have successfully completed the experiment. YOUR CREDIT WILL BE ASSIGNED ON: MONDAY APRIL 06.
Make sure you click the button below to end the Experiment.

I would like to thank you for your participation in this study entitled Vigilance and Distraction. This study aimed to assess the factors that allow an individual to maintain a high level of performance over time in a visual monitoring (vigilance) task in which target events are relatively rare. It has been shown that the speed and accuracy with which individuals detect such rare targets decreases over time – a result we expect to observe in the present study. You performed in one of two possible conditions: in the control condition, all animal words were targets, whereas in the experimental condition, may animal words were not targets because they were not four-legged. We hypothesize that the presence of non-target animals will make the task slightly more difficult, which will in turn better 'couple' attention to the task and prevent performance from dropping off steeply over time.

The data collected during this study (response time, signal detection accuracy) will be used to further our understanding of the basic cognitive and perceptual processes that support vigilance and attentional deployment. In general, we believe that as a task becomes more engaging, performance remains more stable over time. Data will be retained for at least 7 years.

Please remember that any data pertaining to you as an individual participant will be kept confidential. Once all the data are collected and analyzed for this project, I plan on sharing this information with the research community through seminars, conferences, presentations, and journal articles. If you are interested in receiving more information regarding the results of this study, or would like a summary of the results, please provide your email address, and when the study is completed, anticipated by fall 2015, Dr. David Thomson will send you the information. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the study, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Thomson by email (d5thomso@uwaterloo.ca) or telephone (1-519-888-4567 ext. 36819). As with all University of Waterloo projects involving human participants, this project was reviewed by, and received ethics clearance through a UW Research Ethics Committee. Should you have any comments or concerns resulting from your participation in this study, please contact Dr. Maureen Nummelin, the Director, Office of Research Ethics, at 1-519-888-4567, Ext. 36005 or maureen.nummelin@uwaterloo.ca