Effects of sleep loss on team decision making: motivational loss or motivational gain?
OBJECTIVE
To examine the effects of 30 hr of sleep loss and continuous cognitive work on performance in a distributed team decision-making environment.


BACKGROUND
To date, only a few studies have examined the effect of sleep loss on distributed team performance, and only one other to our knowledge has examined the relationship between sleep loss and social-motivational aspects of teams (Hoeksema-van Orden, Gaillard, & Buunk, 1998).


METHODS
Sixteen teams participated; each comprised 4 members. Three team members made threat assessments on a military surveillance task and then forwarded their judgments electronically to a team leader, who made a final assessment on behalf of the team.


RESULTS
Sleep loss had an antagonistic effect on team decision-making accuracy and decision time. However, the performance loss associated with fatigue attributable to sleep loss was mediated by being part of a team, as compared with performing the same task individually - that is, we found evidence of a "motivational gain" effect in these sleepy teams. We compare these results with those of Hoeksema-van Orden et al. (1998), who found clear evidence of a "social loafing" effect in sleepy teams.


CONCLUSIONS
The divergent results are discussed in the context of the collective effort model (Karau & Williams, 1993) and are attributable in part to a difference between independent and interdependent team tasks.


CONCLUSIONS
The issues and findings have implications for a wide range of distributed, collaborative work environments, such as military network-enabled operations.
Baranski
Joseph V
JV
Defence Research and Development Canada, 1133 Sheppard Ave. West, PO Box 2000, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3M 3B9. joe.baranski@drdc-rddc.gc.ca
Thompson
Megan M
MM
Lichacz
Frederick M J
FM
McCann
Carol
C
Gil
Valerie
V
Pastò
Luigi
L
Pigeau
Ross A
RA
D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D003657:Decision Making; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel; D009042:Motivation; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis