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Inciting anarchy in vigilance research: Addressing the limitations of reductionism
Chong, Steven
Chong, Steven
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d26005_Chong.pdf
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2026-05
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Dissertation
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Electronic dissertation
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Work one investigated the underlying mechanisms to the underlying mechanisms that were proposed by dominant theories on vigilance, and it concluded that the interaction among all those mechanisms define vigilance. Specifically, vigilance has neurochemical, electrophysiological, and chronobiological components that function both independently and interdependently amongst themselves.
Work two further explored the complex biological underpinnings of this process by illuminating a fundamental limitation in our research strategy: reductionism. In the hopes of correcting course, work two proposed an ambidextrous research strategy that synergistically employed both reductionism and holism to understand the process researchers infer as vigilance.
Work three implemented this strategy by creating a task that was able to capture multiple facets of vigilance performance, utilize environmental cues that contain bio-meaning, and present demands that evoke bidirectional aspects of vigilance’s functioning. The intersection of these factors was investigated using a combination of subjective, behavioral, and physiological metrics. The results of work three suggest the following: 1) vigilance performance may differ based on time-of-day and researchers should consider conducting experiments within a limited time-window; 2) prestimulus alpha power was associated with correct responses to rarelyoccurring trials, irrespective of these trials requiring unique responses; 3) vigilance can function in multiple ways given various task demands, some of which may be robust to performance decrements associated with time-on-task; and 4) greater resource allocation towards a task does not necessarily entail greater performance. Like vigilance, resource allocation may also be a multifaceted process requiring a multidimensional research strategy to meaningfully understand.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)-- Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology
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Wichita State University
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© Copyright 2026 by Steven Chong
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