Sleep loss cognitive performance

Finally, a cognitive performance assay used repeatedly during sleep deprivation should have high test-retest reliability it should be demonstrated to be sensitive to a large proportion of the performance phenomena associated with sleep loss and it should have the capacity to reflect aspects of real world performance (i.e., ecological validity). 

For approximately two decades, the lapse hypothesis was the dominant theoretical explanation for the effects of sleep loss on cognitive performance. In their seminal monograph, Williams, Lubin, and Goodnow (43) reported that performance lapses on experimenter-paced RT tasks increased with increasing hours of wakefulness, and that while poorest performance worsened, subjects were still able to perform at almost optimum levels between lapse periods. Thus, the longer subjects remained awake, the more variable their performance became. Importantly, this was observed regardless of the type (simple vs. choice) or duration (10 vs. 30 min) of RT task, and whether or not subjects were provided with performance feedback. 

As noted earlier, an effective assay of the cognitive impact of sleep loss should be sensitive to the homeostatic drive for sleep in interaction with the endogenous circadian pacemaker (33,58). From Figure 3, it is evident that the PVT fulfills this requirement, with performance during 88 hr of sleep deprivation demonstrating both a monotonic component to impairment, which increases with increasing time awake, and a rhythmic oscillation in performance, which fluctuates in daily cycles. 

Jacques CHM, Lynch JC, Samkoff JS. The effects of sleep loss on cognitive performance of resident physicians. Fam Pract 1990 30 223-229. 

Heslegrave RJ, Angus RG. The effects of task duration and work-session location on performance degradation induced by sleep loss and sustained cognitive work. Behav Res Methods InstComput 1985 17 592-603. 

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