Sleep Deprivation

Typing


The Task

Sleep deprived subjects were asked to type a short passage into a word-processor. They were asked to type as quickly and as accurately as possible. The use of the delete button was prohibited. Subjects were tested before and after sleep deprivation. The time taken to type the passage and the number of errors were recorded.

Averages
Before After
Time 204 226
Errors 7.5 5.8

Subjects took longer to type the passage after sleep deprivation. The average before was 204 seconds (SD=40), and 226 seconds after (SD=50). Using a related t-test the difference was found to be highly significant (p less than 0.005, 1-tailed, df=16, t=4.766).


There was a slight improvement after sleep deprivation. The average number of mistakes before was 7.5 (SD=3.9), compared with 5.8 (SD=3.3) after. This difference approached significance (p less than 0.1, 2-tailed, Wilcoxon T=37, N=17).

There was no significant correlation between speed and accuracy, neither before sleep deprivation nor after.

Research conducted by Charlotte Fielding

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Gary Sturt
sturtg@colchsfc.ac.uk

Copyright © 1998 Gary Sturt
This Home Page was created by WebEdit,06 April 1998
Most recent revision 06 April 1998