An EEG Predictor of Performance Decrement in a Vigilance Task.

摘要

An attempt was made to discover measures of EEG that could predict performance decrement on long-term monitoring tasks in subjects who had not been previously sleep deprived. Ten subjects took part in a study in which alpha numeric symbols were discriminated on 1100 trials during continuous 3-hr watches. Each subject completed the 3-hr watch on each of 3 consecutive days. The reaction times for all trials on Day 2 and Day 3 were divided into the 10 percent fastest, 10 percent slowest, and the errors of omission (EO) for each session. Brain activity at the vertex (C2) was derived from the one-second period preceding each trial. Ensemble spectral analysis of the EEG was completed for each subject to yield intensity at integral values of frequency from 1 to 12 Hz. It was found that the ratio of slow activity to intermediate 7-12 Hz) EEG activity at the vertex can differentiate EO trials from fast and slow responses and is reliable over at least 3 days. The technique could be used to monitor errors of omission in operatioal settings.