PC-PVT 2.0: An updated platform for psychomotor vigilance task testing, analysis, prediction, and visualization.
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BACKGROUND The psychomotor vigilance task PVT has been widely used to assess the effects of sleep deprivation on human neurobehavioral performance To facilitate research in this field we previously developed the PC PVT a freely available software system analogous to the gold standard PVT 192 that in addition to allowing for simple visual reaction time RT tests also allows for near real time PVT analysis prediction and visualization in a personal computer PC NEW METHOD Here we present the PC PVT 2 0 for Windows 10 operating system which has the capability to couple PVT tests of a study protocol with the study s sleep wake and caffeine schedules and make real time individualized predictions of PVT performance for such schedules We characterized the accuracy and precision of the software in measuring RT using 44 distinct combinations of PC hardware system configurations RESULTS We found that 15 system configurations measured RTs with an average delay of less than 10 ms an error comparable to that of the PVT 192 To achieve such small delays the system configuration should always use a gaming mouse as the means to respond to visual stimuli We recommend using a discrete graphical processing unit for desktop PCs and an external monitor for laptop PCs COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD This update integrates a study s sleep wake and caffeine schedules with the testing software facilitating testing and outcome visualization and provides near real time individualized PVT predictions for any sleep loss condition considering caffeine effects CONCLUSIONS The software with its enhanced PVT analysis visualization and prediction capabilities can be freely downloaded from https pcpvt bhsai org