claypoole and szalma

key study, group behaviors in organisation

Aims

to determine the effectiveness of EPM on sustained attention

Participants (exp 1)

106, 65 female, volunteer sampling (received course credits), undergraduates recruited via psychology experiment website at alarge university in the southeaster USA

IV conditions

control vs electronic presence

control- no form of social presence throughout (baseline), completed the entire experiment alone in an experimental room without video camera

electronic presence- 2 forms: video recorded or webcam

• there was actually no live streaming/ recording

• webcam placed on top of computer screen and used to “monitor the PS performance and engagment while they completed the task”

• video recorder placed on tripod, 1 meter behind the ps and a 45 degree angle, used to “record the ps performacne so it can be evaluated later”

• both illuminated light and presenred a cue to increase ps awareness of the electronic presence

independant group design- 53 in each

sustained attention task

ps required to monitor a computer display of 2 digit number

instructed to respond to any critical signal appeared on the screen

• critical signal ws any 2 digit number that resulted in a differenc eof 0 or ± one

• each stimulus presented for 1000ms folllowed by interstimulus (black screen) for 1500ms

• ps responded to critical signal by pressing the spacebar

• ps can respond anytime during the 1000ms that the stimulus was on screen for during ISI

• in the 24 minute task. rhere were 5 critical signals presented randomly across 4 periods

procedure

once ps arrived at the lab, they wrre told to present their confirmation code and hand in any watched and phones

randomly assigned to eitjer grouo

completed a brief demographics questionnaire prior to the task

then a research assistant reviewed the task instructions and presented examples timulus and answered any qs b4 leavinf the room

ps were given 3 minute practice sessions, fllwed by 24 minute total sustained attention task

results

analysis using ANOVA

correct detections:

• both groups showed sig decreased in correct detections as time passed

• electronic presence condition detected sig more critical signals than control group

false alarm:

• proportion of false alarms decreased sig across both condition as time passed

• electronic presence conditoon showed sig fewer false alarms

response time:

• response time increase for both conditoon as time passed

• electronic presence condition showed faster response time

conclusion

results suggested that social facilitation including the use of EPM can be untilised to imrpove performance on sustained attention task that is cognitively demanding