The Psychophysics of Boredom

Abstract

Boredom is a phenomenon that occurs in almost all individuals. Despite how common boredom is in our lives, little research has investigated whether boredom is quantifiable. We are using psychophysical techniques in an attempt to mathematically quantify boredom. We tested forty-two MacEwan undergraduate students who were classified as being high boredom prone (HBP = 15) or low boredom prone (LBP = 20). Participant performance was measured using Glass patterns, which require individuals to discriminate pattern from noise. Using these patterns, we were able to quantitatively extract various performance measures such as threshold, slope, error rate, and reaction time. We found that boredom proneness did not impact visual performance amongst HBP and LBP participants. We were unable to find significant differences between the two conditions when analyzing threshold, slope, error rate, reaction time, and the general psychometric function. These results suggest that boredom-proneness does not influence performance on psychophysical tasks, which in turn underscores the robustness of psychophysics as a measure of performance. Keywords: boredom, psychophysics, Glass patterns

Discipline: Psychology Honours

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nicole Anderson