Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Journal

The effects of motivation and the depletion of cognitive resources on performance in a sustained attention task were investigated. 17 participants completed a modified version of the continuous temporal expectancy task (CTET; O’Connell et al., 2009). Performance on the CTET is a measure of sustained attention. Monetary reward was introduced as a between-subjects manipulation. Overall performance and performance across time served as behavioural measures of general sustained attention and the vigilance decrement, respectively. An electroencephalogram (EEG) was used to measure the neural correlates of behaviour, in particular, the alpha band oscillation. EEG analysis revealed higher alpha power for pre-target misses compared to hits, indicating a phase-dependent influence on sustained attention influenced by motivation levels. The vigilance decrement occurred in both reward and no reward groups, unaffected by rewards alone. Ceiling effects may have weakened the impact of rewards. Task performance variability suggests the need for a larger sample size to enhance reliability. In conclusion, alpha power differences between misses and hits suggest its role in sustained attention. However, reward did not mitigate the vigilance decrement which persisted across groups. Further research with a larger sample size is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of these effects.