Psychomotor Vigilance Task

Dr. Dinges created and validated the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT), which is among the most widely used assays for behavioral alertness relative to sleep and circadian dynamics biology. It is a simple reaction time task that provides stimuli at intervals between two and ten seconds, requiring the subject to respond by hitting a key as quickly as possible, which clears the screen and begins the wait for the next stimulus. As a noninvasive, accessible method of evaluating alertness and vigilance during sleep loss, the PVT has become the gold standard for assessing the effects of sleep deprivation on cognition. It been validated in bout durations as brief as three minutes (PVT-B), where longer administrations of ten or more minutes would be impractical, such as the International Space Station and during space missions, where astronauts perform the task before conducting strenuous tasks such as extravehicular activities (EVAs). 

Read more about the development and validation of the PVT here:

Dinges & Powell (1985): Microcomputer analysis of performance on a portable, simple visual RT task sustained operations.

Doran, Van Dongen & Dinges DF (2001): Sustained attention performance during sleep deprivation: evidence of state instability

Basner, Mollicone & Dinges (2011): Validity and sensitivity of a brief Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT-B) to total and partial sleep deprivation

The Cognition Lab: Psychomotor Vigilance Task