EFFECTS OF SLEEP-DEPRIVATION, LUNCH, AND PERSONALITY ON PERFORMANCE, MOOD, AND CARDIOVASCULAR FUNCTION

The present study examined the effects of sleep deprivation on perform ance, mood, and cardiovascular functioning in the late morning and ear ly afternoon. The results showed that the sleep-deprived subjects felt less alert and detected fewer targets in a cognitive vigilance task. Selective impairments due to sleep deprivation were also observed in a logical reasoning task. There was little evidence to suggest that con sumption of lunch altered these effects of sleep deprivation. However, individual differences in the effects of sleep deprivation were appar ent, with trait anxiety being related to the changes in subjective ale rtness produced by sleep deprivation, and sleep-deprived extraverts sh owing greater performance impairments than the sleep-deprived introver ts.