A PROGRAM FOR STUDIES OF ALTERED SLEEP-WAKE SCHEDULES AND PERFORMANCE

Studies of the effects of variations in sleep-wake schedules on human performance tend to run for several days and involve extensive repeate d testing in order to take into account time-of-day and cumulative cro ss-day effects (Broughton & Ogilvie, 1992; Monk, 1991; Webb, 1982). Su ch research typically addresses issues pertaining to sustained operati ons and shift work and is often more appropriately conducted in the fi eld. The present paper describes a computer-automated system designed to administer sleep-wake schedules and performance tests, and to store results of such testing in file formats that are easy to access with commercially available statistical packages.