Mackworth Clock
Encyclopedia
The Mackworth Clock is an experimental device used in the field of experimental psychology
to study the effects of long term vigilance on the detection of signals. It was originally created by Norman Mackworth
as an experimental simulation of long term monitoring by radar operators in the British Air Force during World War II. The device has a large black pointer in a large circular background like a clock. The pointer moves in short jumps like the second hand of an analog clock, approximately every second. At infrequent and irregular intervals, the hand makes a double jump, e.g. 12 times every 30 seconds. The task is to detect when the double jumps occur by pressing a button. Typically, Mackworth's participants would do this task for two hours. The Mackworth Clock was used to establish one of the fundamental findings in the vigilance and sustained attention literature: the vigilance decrement, that is, signal detection accuracy decreases notably after 30 minutes on task. The test continues to be used today in vigilance research in various forms, including computer displayed versions.
Experimental psychology
Experimental psychology is a methodological approach, rather than a subject, and encompasses varied fields within psychology. Experimental psychologists have traditionally conducted research, published articles, and taught classes on neuroscience, developmental psychology, sensation, perception,...
to study the effects of long term vigilance on the detection of signals. It was originally created by Norman Mackworth
Norman Mackworth
Norman H. "Mac" Mackworth is a British psychologist and cognitive scientist known for his pioneering work in the study of boredom, attention, and vigilance; the Mackworth Clock test has been used since the 1940s in the study of vigilance....
as an experimental simulation of long term monitoring by radar operators in the British Air Force during World War II. The device has a large black pointer in a large circular background like a clock. The pointer moves in short jumps like the second hand of an analog clock, approximately every second. At infrequent and irregular intervals, the hand makes a double jump, e.g. 12 times every 30 seconds. The task is to detect when the double jumps occur by pressing a button. Typically, Mackworth's participants would do this task for two hours. The Mackworth Clock was used to establish one of the fundamental findings in the vigilance and sustained attention literature: the vigilance decrement, that is, signal detection accuracy decreases notably after 30 minutes on task. The test continues to be used today in vigilance research in various forms, including computer displayed versions.