Sleep-loss, Noise and Decisions

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Abstract
Twelve subjects were given a visual detection task under three sleep schedules: normal 8 h sleep; 4 h sleep at night and 4 h sleep in the afternoon. Ninety-five dB white noise accompanied some tests. The results, in the form of confidence ratings, were analysed by means of statistical decision theory. Time on task made cautious performance more cautious, and sleep-loss made it more risky. Noise caused a rise in the risky criterion. There was some evidence that, in combination, noise and sleep-loss had mutually antagonistic effects on discriminability, and cancelled out each other's effects on the cautious criterion placement.