Ergonomics
ISSN: 0014-0139 (Print) 1366-5847 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/terg20
Circadian Rhythms in Step-input Pursuit Tracking LESLIE BUCK To cite this article: LESLIE BUCK (1977) Circadian Rhythms in Step-input Pursuit Tracking, Ergonomics, 20:1, 19-31, DOI: 10.1080/00140137708931597 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00140137708931597
Published online: 27 Apr 2007.
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Citing articles: 4 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=terg20 Download by: [Nanyang Technological University]
Date: 07 November 2015, At: 05:02
"RGONO~IICS,
1977, VOL. 20, NO. 1, 19-31
Circadian Rhythms in Step-input Pursuit Tracking By
LESLIE
BUCK
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 05:02 07 November 2015
Control Systems Laboratory, National Research Council Ottawa KIA ORO Canada Subjcuts porforrned a stop-input pursuit tracking task at rogulur intorvnls over two days. Porformanco varied with time of day in a manner and to lUI extent dependent upon tho choice of index so that circadian rhythms for speed scores were in inverse phase with those for accuracy scores. Presence or absence of knowledge of results made no significant difference to the time of day effect but increased short ter-m momory demands disturbod tho movement time rhythm supporting tho hypothesis
thn.t psychomotor and short torm memory functions vary in Inverse phase with timo of dny.
1. Introduction The existence of circadian rhythms of physiological activity has been established to the point where 'any observation may be suspect without a st~tement of the time of day at which it was made' (Mills 1966). Similar rhythms havc been found for psychological activities, but compared to those found for physiological activity in the same subjects they are somewhut less distinct (Aschoff et at. 1!)72), and further differences in degrec of rhythmic variation are associated with the choice of task used to demonstrate a rhythm, as Klein et at. (1972 a, b) have shown. Such differences in task sensitivity to the effects of time of day may conceivably be associated with the aspects of performance measured, among which we may distinguish response selection (reaction time), response execution (movement time), and a combination of the two (total response timc). Furthermore, the question of how performance is measured may be relevant to the finding of Blake (1967) and Baddeley et at. (1970) that, performance on short term memory tasks varies in inverse phase with t.hat on psychomotor tasks. The former are usually scored in terms of error, with response speed held constant or disregarded, whereas the latter are usually scored in terms of speed, and even so-called error deviation scores on tracking tasks measure time spent correcting a deviation from course rather bhan the number of such deviations. Speed and accuracy however, are inversely related (Schouten and Bekker 1967), and if speed versus accuracy trade-off were to vary systematically with time of day, rhythms for the two aspects of pcrformanee would be in inverse phase irrespective of the type of task. The first objective of the experiments described here was to consider the question of how far success in demonstrating circadian rhythms in performance depends on choice of performance measure, by studying the effects of time of day on various indices of pursuit tracking. As a second objective these experiments studied circadian variations in short term memory by varying the characteristics of a tracking task. Previous experimenters, including Patrick et at. (1974) who failed to confirm thc commonly received result, used for the most part verbal recall tasks with little or no psychomotor component, but the present experiments used a different approach by manipulating target information to make greater or lesser memory demands on the subject. Finally, the
20
Leslie Buck
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 05:02 07 November 2015
experiments had the third objective of examining the interactive effects of motivation as determined by the presence or absence of knowledge results. 2. Experimental Apparatus and Measurements The experimental apparatus was a subject-paced, step-input pursuit tracking task known as the N RO stressalyser. This has been described more fully in another paper, which also reported some basic performance data (Buck 1975 b). The subject used a reverse-linked control wheel to align a pursuit pointer with an illuminated target as it moved between five positions. In the standard version of the task (designated here as Task A) thc target remained illuminated until the subject had held alignment uninterrupted for 200 ms, at which point the target lamp was extinguished, the next lamp was illuminated, and pursuit continued. Targct movement began at the middlemost position, and continued in an apparently random fashion, although in fact each of the twenty possible movements between positions occurred five timcs in the course of a 100-movement trial. Ten different movement patterns were used to prevent familiarization with any sequence. This task yielded measures of all four combinations of pcrformance speed and accuracy, and response selection and execution. These were reaction time (the interval between target presentation and the initiation of pursuit) and movement time (the interval between pursuit towards the target and the initiation of 200 ms uninterrupted alignment), and error rate and overshoot rutc. An error was recorded when pursuit was initiated away from the target (in which case the interval preceding reversal towards the target was not counted as part of movement time), and an overshoot was recorded when initial alignment with the target was broken before 200 ms had elapsed (in which E,p",im~nt
2
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21
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ISSN: 0014-0139 (Print) 1366-5847 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/terg20
Circadian Rhythms in Step-input Pursuit Tracking LESLIE BUCK To cite this article: LESLIE BUCK (1977) Circadian Rhythms in Step-input Pursuit Tracking, Ergonomics, 20:1, 19-31, DOI: 10.1080/00140137708931597 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00140137708931597
Published online: 27 Apr 2007.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 11
View related articles
Citing articles: 4 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=terg20 Download by: [Nanyang Technological University]
Date: 07 November 2015, At: 05:02
"RGONO~IICS,
1977, VOL. 20, NO. 1, 19-31
Circadian Rhythms in Step-input Pursuit Tracking By
LESLIE
BUCK
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 05:02 07 November 2015
Control Systems Laboratory, National Research Council Ottawa KIA ORO Canada Subjcuts porforrned a stop-input pursuit tracking task at rogulur intorvnls over two days. Porformanco varied with time of day in a manner and to lUI extent dependent upon tho choice of index so that circadian rhythms for speed scores were in inverse phase with those for accuracy scores. Presence or absence of knowledge of results made no significant difference to the time of day effect but increased short ter-m momory demands disturbod tho movement time rhythm supporting tho hypothesis
thn.t psychomotor and short torm memory functions vary in Inverse phase with timo of dny.
1. Introduction The existence of circadian rhythms of physiological activity has been established to the point where 'any observation may be suspect without a st~tement of the time of day at which it was made' (Mills 1966). Similar rhythms havc been found for psychological activities, but compared to those found for physiological activity in the same subjects they are somewhut less distinct (Aschoff et at. 1!)72), and further differences in degrec of rhythmic variation are associated with the choice of task used to demonstrate a rhythm, as Klein et at. (1972 a, b) have shown. Such differences in task sensitivity to the effects of time of day may conceivably be associated with the aspects of performance measured, among which we may distinguish response selection (reaction time), response execution (movement time), and a combination of the two (total response timc). Furthermore, the question of how performance is measured may be relevant to the finding of Blake (1967) and Baddeley et at. (1970) that, performance on short term memory tasks varies in inverse phase with t.hat on psychomotor tasks. The former are usually scored in terms of error, with response speed held constant or disregarded, whereas the latter are usually scored in terms of speed, and even so-called error deviation scores on tracking tasks measure time spent correcting a deviation from course rather bhan the number of such deviations. Speed and accuracy however, are inversely related (Schouten and Bekker 1967), and if speed versus accuracy trade-off were to vary systematically with time of day, rhythms for the two aspects of pcrformanee would be in inverse phase irrespective of the type of task. The first objective of the experiments described here was to consider the question of how far success in demonstrating circadian rhythms in performance depends on choice of performance measure, by studying the effects of time of day on various indices of pursuit tracking. As a second objective these experiments studied circadian variations in short term memory by varying the characteristics of a tracking task. Previous experimenters, including Patrick et at. (1974) who failed to confirm thc commonly received result, used for the most part verbal recall tasks with little or no psychomotor component, but the present experiments used a different approach by manipulating target information to make greater or lesser memory demands on the subject. Finally, the
20
Leslie Buck
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 05:02 07 November 2015
experiments had the third objective of examining the interactive effects of motivation as determined by the presence or absence of knowledge results. 2. Experimental Apparatus and Measurements The experimental apparatus was a subject-paced, step-input pursuit tracking task known as the N RO stressalyser. This has been described more fully in another paper, which also reported some basic performance data (Buck 1975 b). The subject used a reverse-linked control wheel to align a pursuit pointer with an illuminated target as it moved between five positions. In the standard version of the task (designated here as Task A) thc target remained illuminated until the subject had held alignment uninterrupted for 200 ms, at which point the target lamp was extinguished, the next lamp was illuminated, and pursuit continued. Targct movement began at the middlemost position, and continued in an apparently random fashion, although in fact each of the twenty possible movements between positions occurred five timcs in the course of a 100-movement trial. Ten different movement patterns were used to prevent familiarization with any sequence. This task yielded measures of all four combinations of pcrformance speed and accuracy, and response selection and execution. These were reaction time (the interval between target presentation and the initiation of pursuit) and movement time (the interval between pursuit towards the target and the initiation of 200 ms uninterrupted alignment), and error rate and overshoot rutc. An error was recorded when pursuit was initiated away from the target (in which case the interval preceding reversal towards the target was not counted as part of movement time), and an overshoot was recorded when initial alignment with the target was broken before 200 ms had elapsed (in which E,p",im~nt
2
Expe'iment J T",k A
Exp"iment 3 Tal< B
mstc.
200
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lim. 01
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2400
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I
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Ftguro I. Moan CBT scores. The data points plotted for Exper-iment I represent data evcregod for 40 subjects and 2 days using n. running uvornge technique. Tho first and every subsoquont fourth datu point roprosont independent data, which were used in tho anulysos of variance, and which 0.1'0 tho points plotted against the points marked on the abscissa . scale. The data points plotted for Experiment 2 and for Experiment 3, Tasks A, Band C, roprosenb data averaged for n subjects and 2 days. Note that in the graph for Experiment I, Period 1 Is equivnlent to 1530 h , and in the other graphs Period 1 is equivalent to 0730 h.
21
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