Introduction

Welcome to the Replication of an Online Semantic Vigilance Task (ARL IRB 17-223) study. You are being invited to take part in a research study. Whether you take part is up to you. You may withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. You will be awarded credit for the amount of time that you complete and according to the rules of your institution.

Psychologists at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) study many topics. To do this we need the help of people who agree to take part in a research study. You are being invited to take part in a very large research study, which will include about 1000 – 2000 individuals in total. You must be 18 years of age or older to be included in the research study. You also must have normal or corrected-to-normal vision and no color blindness. You should have had an appropriate amount of sleep (i.e., no deprivation) and should refrain from taking caffeine or other stimulants while participating in this study.

What you will be asked to do in the study: During this study, you will be asked to complete a series of surveys. Once you have finished the surveys, you will be asked to complete a semantic processing task and then complete another series of surveys. We expect that you will be in this research study for approximately 30 minutes.

You may experience discomfort from prolonged sitting as this experiment will take place entirely on a computing device. We ask that you stand, stretch, or take a short break prior to participating in the attention task. You may also discontinue your participation in the study at any moment without providing a reason. You will receive no benefit from participating in this research, but you may learn more about semantic attention.

This study is hosted on VolunteerScience and all data will be saved on a secure server and password-protected computer. Your data will be analyzed at the aggregate level and you will be assigned a unique participation identification number, which means that the researchers will not know any of your identifiable information and that your performance cannot be linked back to your identity. Please answer the following surveys as HONESTLY as possible. We sincerely appreciate your participation in this research.

I have read the Informed Consent and by clicking “Yes” below, I acknowledge that I understand the study and I agree to voluntarily participate in this research study.
I also acknowledge that I can download a copy of this Informed Consent.

Which institution are you affiliated with?

Conclusion

Thank you for taking part in the Semantic Vigilance study. Your research participation credit will be awarded by your study administrator in approximately 48 hours.
If you have not been awarded credit at this time, please contact alexis.neigel@gmail.com for more information and details.

Survey - Pre-DSSQ

Please answer every question below, even if you find it difficult. Answer, as honestly as you can, what is true of you. Please do not choose a reply just because it seems like the 'right thing to say'. Your answers will be kept entirely confidential. Also, be sure to answer according to how you FEEL RIGHT NOW. Don't just put down how you usually feel. You should try and work quite quickly: there is no need to think very hard about the answers. The first answer you think of is usually the best.

For each statement, select the best answer, so as to indicate how accurately it describes your feelings RIGHT NOW.

	Definitely False	Somewhat False	Neither True nor False	Somewhat True	Definitely True
The content of the task will be dull:
I feel relaxed:
I am determined to succeed on the task:
I feel tense:
Generally, I feel in control of things:
I am reflecting about myself:
My attention is directed towards the task:
I am thinking deeply about myself:
I feel energetic:
I am thinking about something that happened earlier today:
I will find the task too difficult for me:
I will find it hard to keep my concentration on the task:
I am thinking about personal concerns and interests:
I feel confident about my performance:
I am examining my motives:
I feel like I could handle any difficulties I encounter:
I am motivated to try hard at the task:
I am thinking about things important to me:
I feel uneasy:
I feel tired:

Survey - Post-DSSQ

Please answer every question below, even if you find it difficult. Answer, as honestly as you can, what is true of you. Please do not choose a reply just because it seems like the 'right thing to say'. Your answers will be kept entirely confidential. Also, be sure to answer according to how you FEEL RIGHT NOW. Don't just put down how you usually feel. You should try and work quite quickly: there is no need to think very hard about the answers. The first answer you think of is usually the best.

For each statement, select the best answer, so as to indicate how accurately it describes your feelings RIGHT NOW.

	Definitely False	Somewhat False	Neither True nor False	Somewhat True	Definitely True
The content of the task was dull:
I felt relaxed:
I was determined to succeed on the task:
I felt tense:
Generally, I felt in control of things:
I reflected about myself:
My attention was directed towards the task:
I thought deeply about myself:
I felt energetic:
I thought about something that happened earlier today:
I found the task too difficult for me:
I found it hard to keep my concentration on the task:
I thought about personal concerns and interests:
I felt confident about my performance:
I examined my motives:
I felt like I could handle any difficulties I encounter:
I was motivated to try hard at the task:
I thought about things important to me:
I felt uneasy:
I felt tired:

Survey - NASA-TLX

We are not only interested in assessing your performance but also the experiences you had during the experiment. In the most general sense, we are examining the workload you experienced. Since workload is something that is experienced individually by each person, there are no set rulers that can be used to estimate the workload associated with different activities. One way to find out about workload is to ask people to describe the feelings they experienced while performing a task. Please read the descriptions of the scales carefully. For each of the six scales, you will evaluate the task by selecting a number ranging from 0 to 100 to reflect the point that matches your experience.

Upon completing the survey, use the mouse to click on the next button to finish. Please read the description for each scale before making your rating.

How much mental and perceptual activity was required (e.g., thinking, deciding, calculating, remembering, looking, searching, etc.)?

LOW 0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	HIGH 100

How much physical activity was required (e.g., pushing, pulling, turning, controlling, activating, etc.)?

LOW 0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	HIGH 100

How much time pressure did you feel due to the rate or pace at which the task or task elements occurred?

LOW 0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	HIGH 100

How successful do you think you were in accomplishing the goals of the task set by the experimenter (or yourself)?

GOOD 0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	POOR 100

How hard did you have to work (mentally and physically) to accomplish your level of performance?

LOW 0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	HIGH 100

How insecure, discouraged, irritated, stressed, and annoyed vs. secure, gratified, content, relaxed, and complacent did you feel during the task?

LOW 0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	HIGH 100

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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.

Press 'Begin' to start the experiment.

Demographics

Sex: Male Female Intersex

Age:

Please indicate your current academic standing:

Do you have normal or corrected-to-normal vision? Yes No

Do you have any color blindness? Yes No

Do you currently play video games? Yes No

Are you currently on any stimulant or depressant drugs? Yes No

Is there anything else you would like to tell the research team?