Neuropsychology Section, Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Psychol Res. 2010 Sep;74(5):499-512. doi: 10.1007/s00426-010-0275-6. Epub 2010 Feb 10.
The efficiency of cognition is modulated by energetic factors like effort, fatigue or circadian variation, which affect even the most basic cognitive operations. For instance, speeded detection in simple reaction-time (SRT) tasks usually slows down over time. The literature suggests that either mindlessness due to routinization or mental fatigue due to attentional resource depletion might underlie this decrement. We tested these assumptions in three 25-min visual SRT tasks using easy-to-detect high-intensity and hard-to-detect low-intensity stimuli presented in both blocked and mixed fashion. Mindlessness theory predicts that less monotonous stimulation (i.e. the mixed presentation) would mitigate the time-related decrement for high- and low-intensity stimuli alike, whereas resource-depletion theory predicts opposite effects of mixed presentation on high- versus low-intensity stimuli. Indeed, stimulus intensity and presentation mode cross-interacted significantly, indicating that the performance decline was steeper for high-intensity stimuli but less steep for low-intensity stimuli during mixed compared to blocked presentation, respectively. These results strongly suggest that the time-related efficiency decrement during prolonged SRT performance is related to accumulating mental fatigue. A conjecture is put forward that explains both resource depletion and mindlessness from the perspective of self-regulation. Our study underscores the need to incorporate energetic factors into models of cognition to facilitate their translation into real-world applications.
认知效率受到能量因素的调节，如努力、疲劳或昼夜节律变化，这些因素甚至会影响最基本的认知操作。例如，在简单反应时 (SRT) 任务中，快速检测的速度通常会随时间减慢。文献表明，这种衰减可能是由于常规化导致的无心或由于注意力资源枯竭导致的精神疲劳所致。我们在三个 25 分钟的视觉 SRT 任务中测试了这些假设，使用易于检测的高强度刺激和难以检测的低强度刺激，以分组和混合方式呈现。无意识理论预测，不那么单调的刺激（即混合呈现）会减轻高强度和低强度刺激的时间相关衰减，而资源枯竭理论则预测混合呈现对高强度和低强度刺激的影响相反。实际上，刺激强度和呈现模式存在显著的交互作用，这表明与分组呈现相比，混合呈现时高强度刺激的性能下降更为陡峭，而低强度刺激的性能下降则较为平缓。这些结果强烈表明，在长时间的 SRT 表现中，与时间相关的效率下降与积累的精神疲劳有关。提出了一个假说，从自我调节的角度解释了资源枯竭和无意识。我们的研究强调需要将能量因素纳入认知模型中，以促进它们在现实世界中的应用。
