Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) operators are responsible for maintaining security in various applied settings. However, research has largely ignored human factors that may contribute to CCTV operator error. One important source of error is inattentional blindness – the failure to detect unexpected but clearly visible stimuli when attending to a scene. We compared inattentional blindness rates for experienced (84 infantry personnel) and naïve (87 civilians) operators in a CCTV monitoring task. The task-relevance of the unexpected stimulus and the length of the monitoring period were manipulated between participants. Inattentional blindness rates were measured using typical post-event questionnaires, and participants' real-time descriptions of the monitored event. Based on the post-event measure, 66% of the participants failed to detect salient, ongoing stimuli appearing in the spatial field of their attentional focus. The unexpected task-irrelevant stimulus was significantly more likely to go undetected (79%) than the unexpected task-relevant stimulus (55%). Prior task experience did not inoculate operators against inattentional blindness effects. Participants' real-time descriptions revealed similar patterns, ruling out inattentional amnesia accounts.
Although much existing research has focussed on the impact of the current Covid-19 pandemic on mental health in general populations worldwide, there remains a gap in knowing how it impacts those especially vulnerable to negative psychological effects. The main objective of this study was to compare the mental health impact of the pandemic on people with and without a pre-existing psychiatric history. Another objective of this study was to explore this impact on a range of variables known to favor anxiety. Results confirmed that the negative mental health impact of the pandemic is significantly higher for those who could be seen to be especially vulnerable. They also confirmed most of the predicted variables significantly favor anxiety. Overall, the findings of this study not only helped to identify and confirm groups vulnerable to negative mental health outcomes following crises, but they could also help to tailor existing treatment options to them during future outbreaks and/or other pandemics.
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