The impact of sleep deprivation on decision making: A review

Few sleep deprivation (SD) studies involve realism or high-level decision m aking, factors relevant to managers, military commanders, and so forth, who are undergoing prolonged work during crises. Instead, research hits favore d simple tasks sensitive to SD mostly because of their dull monotony. In co ntrast, complex rule-based, convergent and logical tasks are unaffected by short-term SD, seemingly because of heightened participant interest and com pensatory effort. However, recent findings show that despite this effort, S D still impairs decision making involving the unexpected, innovation, revis ing plans, competing distraction, and effective communication. Decision-mak ing models developed outside SD provide useful perspectives on these latter effects, as does a neuropsychological explanation of sleep function. SD pr esents particular difficulties for sleep-deprived decision makers who requi re these latter skills during emergency situations.