Enhancement Methods of Sustained Attention in Complex Systems: A Review

In complex systems, sustained attention has become a key factor affecting operators’ performance. Many studies have focused on how to enhance sustained attention to avoid performance decline caused by attention distraction, decline, and insufficiency. The present review summarized the research results in this field. From the perspectives of task design, personnel selection, personnel training, and process intervention, we summarized and sorted out the latest enhancement methods of sustained attention in complex systems. Also, we compared the means, effects, and application scenarios of these methods. While the findings of most enhancement methods to date were either solitary or contradictory in nature, they exerted a positive effect on sustained attention, in general. Besides, the effects of enhancement were seemingly influenced by several factors, such as time-on-task and overall experimental protocol, and may not last so long.