Vigilance, or the ability to sustain attention over prolonged periods of time, is an important component oftasks in a wide variety of settings. A large body of research has demonstrated that performance on thesetasks declines with time on watch, a pattern referred to as the vigilance decrement. One factor that has beenmostly neglected in prior research is the effect of the presence of a supervisory person during a vigilancetask. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the effect of the presence of a supervisoryfigure on the performance, perceived workload, and stress associated with vigilance. It was hypothesizedthat the presence of a supervisory figure would increase overall performance and also attenuate thevigilance decrement. However, it was also expected to increase the perceived workload and stressassociated with the task.
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