Prolonging the Response Movement Reduces Commission Errors in a High-Go, Low-No-Go Target Detection Task and Composite Metrics of Performance Miss This Effect

Objective Expand research on the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) to a more applied agricultural target detection/selection task and examine the utility of various performance metrics, including composite measures of speed and accuracy, in a High-Go/Low-No-Go stimuli task. Background Modified SARTs have been utilized to investigate mechanisms, such as failures of response inhibition, occurring in friendly fire and collateral damage incidents. Researchers have demonstrated that composite measures of speed and accuracy are useful for Low Go/High No-Go stimuli tasks, but this has not been demonstrated for High-Go/Low-No-Go tasks, such as the SART. Method Participants performed a modified SART, where they selected (“sprayed”) images of weeds (Go stimuli) that appeared on a computer screen, while withholding to rarer soybean plant images (No-Go stimuli). Results Response time was a function of distance from a central starting point. Participants committed commission errors (sprayed the soybeans) at a significantly higher rate when the stimuli appeared under the cursor centered on the screen for each trial. Participant’s omission errors (failure to spray a weed) increased significantly as a function of distance. The composite measures examined were primarily influenced by response time and omission errors limiting their utility when commission errors are of particular interest. Conclusion Participants are far more accurate in their decision making when required to execute a longer duration motor task in High-Go/Low-No-Go experiments. Application Demonstrates a serious human factors liability of target detection and snap-to-target systems.