ArticleSleep2021
Response speed measurements on the psychomotor vigilance test: how precise is precise enough?
Article in Sleep, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The influence of blue light on sleep, performance and wellbeing in young adults: A systematic review.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Pooled it
- Combination Drug Therapy with Acetazolamide, Eszopiclone ± Venlafaxine for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (RESCUE-Combo): A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2025Trial
- Effect of oxygen supplementation on cognitive performance among HEMS providers after acute exposure to altitude: the HEMS II randomized clinical trial.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2024Trial
- Safety and pharmacodynamics of a single infusion of danavorexton in adults with idiopathic hypersomnia.Sleep · 2023Trial
- Cardiorespiratory fitness modulates the effect of acute exercise on vigilance performance in trained soldiers.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Assessing sleep, cognition and overnight memory performance in neurotypically developing youth in a children's hospital.Frontiers in sleep · 2026Article
- Exploring the differences in neural oscillation mechanisms before and after sleep deprivation.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Night shift and shift work does not affect automatic cognition as reflected by duration mismatch negativity.Industrial health · 2025Article
- Article
- Medical intelligence using PPG signals and hybrid learning at the edge to detect fatigue in physical activities.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A longitudinal study of rotating shift type and attention performance of acute and critical care nurses with chronotype as moderator variable.Journal of occupational health · 2024Article
- Effects of face masks on fairness in on-site personnel selection during a pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- AuReTim: an inexpensive and extensible open-source auditory psychomotor vigilance test.Frontiers in sleep · 2023Article
- Article
- Article
- Sleep, time, and space-fatigue and performance deficits in pilots, commercial truck drivers, and astronauts.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2022Review
- The 3-Minute Psychomotor Vigilance Test Demonstrates Inadequate Convergent Validity Relative to the 10-Minute Psychomotor Vigilance Test Across Sleep Loss and Recovery.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
objectivesThe psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) is frequently used to measure behavioral alertness in sleep research on various software and hardware platforms. In contrast to many other cognitive tests, PVT response time (RT) shifts of a few milliseconds can be meaningful. It is, therefore, important to use calibrated systems, but calibration standards are currently missing. This study investigated the influence of system latency bias and its variability on two frequently used PVT performance metrics, attentional lapses (RTs ≥500 ms) and response speed, in sleep-deprived and alert participants.
methodsPVT data from one acute total (N = 31 participants) and one chronic partial (N = 43 participants) sleep deprivation protocol were the basis for simulations in which response bias (±15 ms) and its variability (0-50 ms) were systematically varied and transgressions of predefined thresholds (i.e. ±1 for lapses, ±0.1/s for response speed) recorded.
resultsBoth increasing bias and its variability caused deviations from true scores that were higher for the number of lapses in sleep-deprived participants and for response speed in alert participants. Threshold transgressions were typically rare (i.e. <5%) if system latency bias was less than ±5 ms and its standard deviation was ≤10 ms.
conclusionsA bias of ±5 ms with a standard deviation of ≤10 ms could be considered maximally allowable margins for calibrating PVT systems for timing accuracy. Future studies should report the average system latency and its standard deviation in addition to adhering to published standards for administering and analyzing the PVT.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.