Sleep deprivation

Card Sorting

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	Before	After
Sleep deprived Mistakes	1.5	0.4
Control Mistakes	0.2	0.6
Sleep deprived Sorting Time (Seconds)	68.8	69.5
Control Sorting Time (Seconds)	49.5	56

Subjects were asked to sort a pack of playing cards into the four suits as quickly and as accurately as possible

The average mistakes made before sleep deprivation was 1.5, compared with 0.4 afterwards. This difference was significant (Wilcoxon T=16.5, N=17, p less than 0.02, 2-tailed). When none sleep deprived controls were tested twice 24 hours apart there was no significant difference between the number of mistakes made on the first day compared to the second. The average on the day before was 0.2 mistakes compared with 0.6 the day after.

The average sorting time before was 68.8 seconds, compared with 69.5 seconds afterwards. This result is not significant.

There was a significant positive correlation between speed and accuracy, after sleep deprivation (Pearsons r=0.48, n-2=21, p less than 0.05, 2-tailed). This suggests that after sleep deprivation subjects used a tactic that emphasised accuracy at the expense of speed.

There was not a significant correlation between speed and accuracy before sleep deprivation (r=0.22).

Research conducted by Jennifer Skingsley and Lorraine Joslin.

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Gary Sturt
sturtg@colchsfc.ac.uk