Vigilance, or sustained attention, tasks require observers to attend to information over a prolonged period of time. One individual difference that may be associated with sustained attention performance is achievement motivation, given recent findings in the literature that indicate a relationship between human motivation and attention. Fifty-nine participants were randomly assigned to either a cognitive or sensory vigilance task. The present study indicated that individuals high in achievement motivation detected more critical signals and made fewer false alarms in the cognitive vigilance task. Participants high in achievement motivation in the cognitive condition also demonstrated some of the highest distress and worry scores post-task. Implications for sustained attention tasks are discussed.
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