Controlled Attention and Sleep Deprivation: Adding a Self-Regulation Approach?

Abstract

The current study examined performance on an automated task battery under short-term sleep deprivation and non-sleep deprivation conditions. Twenty-six volunteers completed the sleep deprivation study. Twenty-three volunteers completed the non-sleep deprivation study. Performance was examined across five test sessions during 25 hours of acute sleep deprivation conditions and during two days of non-sleep deprivation conditions. ANOVAs examining changes in performance from baseline levels indicated that performance under sleep deprivation conditions resulted in a decrease in performance in some tasks and an increase in estimated blood alcohol concentration. Non-sleep deprivation resulted in stable or increasing performance and a decrease in estimated blood alcohol concentration. The Controlled Attention Model suggests that the task characteristics would have helped maintain performance levels but does not explain how performance decreased on some but not all of the tasks. Extending the Controlled Attention Model to include a broader self-regulation approach suggests that on some of the tasks the participants did not adequately regulate their engagement in the task (even with rapidly changing stimuli) resulting in a decrease in performance levels. Incorporating a self-regulation approach with the Controlled Attention Model could provide a model that better explains the range of effects seen under sleep deprivation conditions.