Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART)
Background
The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) is a widely used computer-based behaviorally based cognitive test measuring sustained attention (vigilance) and inhibitory control. Ian Robertson and colleagues created the SART in 1997 and based it on a go/nogo design with frequent go trials and very infrequent nogo trials, causing the go-response to be the automatic default response in the task which needs to be inhibited in the infrequent nogo trial. Specifically, the SART requires participants to make a response to any digit (go trials = default response) other than '3' (nogo trials = require response inhibition). The SART is run over a significant time span to measure sustained attention on a monotonous task and can be paired with an occasional 'mindwandering' probe which explicitly inquires about the participant's state of mindwandering at specific timepoints.
Task Procedure
The participant sees a constant stream of digits - which can differ in their sizes - and are asked to respond to any digit other than '3' by pressing the space key on the keyboard. The digits appear approx. every 1 second and each digit is replaced by a mask before the next digit appears. The participant can hit the space key during digit and mask presentation.
What it Measures
The SART Task is a behaviorally based cognitive assessment tool to measure sustained attention (vigilance) and inhibitory control.
Psychological domains
- Sustained Attention: Maintaining consistent focus on a monotonous task over an extended period of time
- Vigilance: Staying alert to detect infrequent targets on a monotonous task over an extended period of time
- Inhibitory Control: Ability to overwrite an automatic response pattern when necessary
- Processing Speed: Speed with which stimuli get processed and responded to
- Response Bias: Tendency to show a conservative or liberal response style
Main Performance Metrics
- Number of Commission Errors/SART Errors/Percent Commission Errors: Incorrect Responding to nogo digit => Lapses in vigilance or failures in motor inhibition
- Omission Errors/Percent Omission Errors: Missed responding to go digits => Lapses in attention; possibly due to mindwandering or other task disengagement reasons
- Response Time Variability: Fluctuations in response time to go stimuli can indicate changes in attention
- d' measure: Overall sensitivity to the differences of nogo and go stims (Signal Detection Framework)
- c-Criterium: Indication of Response Style (Signal Detection Framework)
Psychiatric Conditions
SART performance tends to be impaired in patients with the following psychiatric conditions:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- Sleep Disorders
- Schizophrenia
- Cognitive Decline due to Ageing
The Sustained Attention to Response Task described in Robertson et al (1997).
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART).
Robertson, I. H., Manly, T., Andrade, J., Baddeley, B. T., & Yiend, J. (1997). ‘Oops!’: Performance correlates of everyday attentional failures in traumatic brain injured and normal subjects. Neuropsychologia, 35(6), 747–758.
Cheyne, J. A., Carriere, J. S. A., & Smilek, D. (September 01, 2006). Absent-mindedness: Lapses of conscious awareness and everyday cognitive failures. Consciousness and Cognition, 15, 3, 578-592.
Allan, C. J., Solman, G. J. F., Carriere, J. S. A., & Smilek, D. (January 01, 2009). Anatomy of an error: A bidirectional state model of task engagement/disengagement and attention-related errors. Cognition, 111, 1, 98-113.
Molenberghs, P., Gillebert, C. R., Schoofs, H., Dupont, P., Peeters, R., & Vandenberghe, R. (November 01, 2009). Lesion neuroanatomy of the Sustained Attention to Response task. Neuropsychologia, 47, 13, 2866-2875.
Helton, W. S., Weil, L., Middlemiss, A., & Sawers, A. (January 01, 2010). Global interference and spatial uncertainty in the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). Consciousness and Cognition, 19, 1, 77-85.
Hart, E. P., Dumas, E. M., Reijntjes, R. H., van, . H. K., van, . B. S. J., Middelkoop, H. A., Roos, R. A., ... van, D. J. G. (January 01, 2012). Deficient sustained attention to response task and P300 characteristics in early Huntington's disease. Journal of Neurology, 259, 6, 1191-8.
Van, S. M. K., Thijs, R. D., Fronczek, R., Middelkoop, H. A., Lammers, G. J., & Van, D. J. G. (January 01, 2012). Sustained attention to response task (SART) shows impaired vigilance in a spectrum of disorders of excessive daytime sleepiness. Journal of Sleep Research, 21, 4, 390-5.
Smilek, D., Carriere, J. S. A., & Cheyne, J. A. (July 01, 2010). Failures of sustained attention in life, lab, and brain: Ecological validity of the SART. Neuropsychologia, 48, 9, 2564-2570.