title: Comparing sleep-loss sleepiness and sleep inertia: lapses make the difference.
abstract: To compare the behavioral effects of sleep-loss sleepiness (performance impairment due to sleep loss) and sleep inertia (period of impaired performance that follows awakening), mean response latencies and number of lapses from a visual simple reaction-time task were analyzed. Three experimental conditions were designed to manipulate sleepiness and sleep-inertia levels: uninterrupted sleep, partial sleep reduction, and total sleep deprivation. Each condition included two consecutive nights (the first always a night of uninterrupted sleep, and the second either a night of uninterrupted sleep, a night when sleep was reduced to 3 h, or a night of total sleep deprivation), as well as two days in which performance was assessed at 10 different time points (08:00, 08:30, 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:00, and 23:00 h). From 08:00 to 09:00 h, reaction times in the partial sleep-reduction and total sleep-deprivation conditions were at a similar level and were slower than those observed in the uninterrupted sleep condition. In the same time period, the frequency of lapses in the total sleep-deprivation condition was higher than in the partial sleep-reduction condition, while this latter condition never differed from the uninterrupted sleep condition. The results indicate that both sleep inertia and sleep-loss sleepiness lead to an increase in response latencies, but only extreme sleepiness leads to an increase in lapse frequency. We conclude that while reaction times slow as a result of both sleep inertia and sleep-loss sleepiness, lapses appear to be a specific feature of sleep-loss sleepiness.
authors.affiliation: Università degli Studi di Trieste, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Miccoli
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Versace
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koterle
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cavallero
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors