Conscientiousness protects visual search performance from the impact of fatigue

Objective: Visual search—looking for targets among distractors—underlies many critical professions (e.g., radiology, aviation security) that demand optimal performance. As such, it is important to identify, understand, and ameliorate negative factors such as fatigue—mental and/or physical tiredness and diminished function. One way to reduce the detrimental effects is to minimize fatigue itself (e.g., scheduled breaks), but this is not always possible or sufficient. Methods: The current study explored whether some individuals are less susceptible to the impact of fatigue than others; specifically, if conscientiousness, the ability to control impulses and plan, moderates fatigue’s impact. Participants (N=374) completed a search task and self- reported their energy (i.e., the inverse of fatigue) and conscientiousness levels. Self-report measures were gathered as part of a large set of surveys so that participants could not anticipate any particular research question. Results: Preregistered linear mixed effect analyses revealed main effects of energy level (lower energy reduces accuracy) and conscientiousness (more conscientiousness increases accuracy), and, critically, a significant interaction between energy level and conscientiousness. A follow-up analysis divided participants into above- vs. below-mean conscientiousness groups, revealing a significant negative relationship between energy level and accuracy for the below- mean, but not above-mean, group.Implications: The results raise intriguing operational possibilities for visual search professions, with the most direct implication being the incorporation of conscientiousness measures to personnel selection processes