A study conducted by Gisella Logioia, a student at WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, in collaboration with faculty members Devon Hansen, PhD, and Courtney Kurinec, PhD, from the WSU Sleep and Performance Research Center, examines the effects of sleep deprivation on decision-making in individuals with chronic insomnia.
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Published in the journal Sleep Advances, the research focused on how total sleep deprivation impacts adaptive decision-making through a task requiring participants to adjust to unexpected rule changes. The study compared individuals with chronic insomnia to healthy sleepers to assess the cognitive effects of sleep loss.
Twenty-eight participants engaged in a five-day, four-night laboratory protocol. Some experienced 38 hours of total sleep deprivation, while others adhered to a normal sleep schedule. Decision-making was evaluated both at baseline and during the period of sleep deprivation.
The results revealed that sleep deprivation significantly impaired decision-making overall, especially after changes in task rules. Although both healthy sleepers and insomnia sufferers performed worse under sleep deprivation, those with insomnia showed relatively better performance before the rules changed.
The researchers propose that this trend may be attributed to hyperarousal, a characteristic of chronic insomnia, which might provide short-term protection against some cognitive impacts of sleep loss. These findings enhance understanding of how insomnia affects decision-making under fatigue and may guide further research on cognitive function in sleep disorders.