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Procedia
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PSIWORLD 2011

The influence of sleep deprivation on short term memory and

attention to details in young students
M. Chraif a *
a

University of Bucharest,Koglniceanu 36-46 street,Bucharest,050107, Romania

Abstract
Many researches highlight the relationship between fatigue and performance. Sleep deprivation consists in keeping
the participant awake for minimum sixteen hours. The study is focused to on highlighting the influence of 24 hours
of sleep deprivation on short term memory and attention to details tasks. The participants were 74 young students,
aged between 19 and 24 years old (m= 21.2; S.D.=1.63). The instrument: tachistoscope test (TAVTMB) (Schuhfried,
2006). By applying Man Whitney nonparametric test for independent groups, the research hypothesis has been
confirmed (p<0.05). The findings provide psychological evidence-based data confirming the assumed hypothesis.

2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of PSIWORLD2011
2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of PSIWORLD 2011
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.

Keywords: tahitoscope test, sleep deprivation, perceiving details, psychological assessment;

1. Introduction
Many research and meta-analysis studies highlight the relationship between fatigue and performance.
Researchers showed that studies are different concerning the samples, the instruments and scales
measuring the performances (subjective, behavioral and objective measures).
Furthermore, sleep deprivation consists in keeping the participant awake for minimum sixteen hours.
Van den Berg and Neely (2006) have discovered that sleep deprivation provokes leads to a longer reaction
time at subjects, omitting stimuli during a 2 hour test period. Takahashi et all (2004) studied workers who
* Mihaela Chraif. Tel.: +40768811012
E-mail address: mihaelapopa14@yahoo.com

1877-0428 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of PSIWORLD2011
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.01.283

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were permitted to sleep a short period of time at work and they discovered that even if the workers
believed that sleep made them more aware and alert, there was no effect on the reaction time.
Research studies concerning sleep deprivation (Federal Highway Administration, 1998; Fell and Black,
1997; Horne and Reyner, 1995; Knipling and Wang, 1995; Knipling and Wang, 1994) have shown that
after 24 hours of awakening, the metabolic brain activity decreases to a significant level (up to 6% for the
entire brain and up to 11% for the specific cortical area and the region of base ganglions). As for the
human body, sleep deprivation leads towards body temperature loss, an increase in the functioning of the
immune system, measured by white cells, and an increase in the release of growth hormones.
Sleep deprivation determines the increase in cardiac pulse. Drummond and Brown (2001), Drummond
et all (2000) highlighted that without sleep, brain deteriorates and the behavior suffers the same effects.
After long periods of sleepless states, neurons start to function improperly, affecting the persons
behavior in a visible manner. Some organs, like muscles, are capable of regenerating even when the
person does not sleep, as long as he or she rests. Even if the cognitive functions do not seem to be
necessary in this scenario, the brain and especially the cortex are not capable to rest, remaining in a state
of partial alertness. Several stages of sleep are necessary for regenerating the cortical neurons while other
stages seem to be used for creating new memories and for generating new synaptic connections.
The studies finalized inside the experimental laboratory concerning sleep deprivation (Aniei et all,
2010), the validation of a psychological test battery for driving schools (Schuhfried, Aniei & Chraif,
2010; Aniei, Chraif, Schuhfried, &Sommer, (2011), and other research studies involving psychological
tests for skills (Schuhfried, Sommer, Aniei & Chraif, 2011; Aniei, Schuhfried & Chraif, 2011;
Schuhfried, Sommer, Aniei & Chraif, 2010) were the scientific basement for this research.
2. Objectives and Hypothesis
2.1. Research Objectives
x To highlight the influence of 24 hours (of) sleep deprivation on short term memory and attention
to details tasks;
x To show that sleeping represents a fundamental need for living in a social environment.
2.2. Hypothesis
Sleep deprivation has a statistically significant influence on short term memory and attention to details
tasks measured by tachistoscopic test in young students.
3. Method
3.1. Participants
The participants were 74 young students from the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences,
University of Bucharest, aged between 19 and 24 years old (m= 21.2; S.D.=1.63), rural and urban areas,
male and female.
3.2. Instruments
x

Perception tahistoscope test for time limited details in traffic (TAVTMB) (Schuhfried, 2006)

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The tahistoscope test is composed of 19 image items (figure 1). The participant visualises the
image of a traffic situation for a second and has to indicate the relevant objects in the image. The test
measures: short term memory (1-5 seconds retrieval process) and attention to traffic details.

Fig. 1 Tahistoscope test: visual stimuli. (Schuhfried, 2006)

3.3. Experimental design

Independent variable is sleep deprivation. Dependent variables are: the number of stimuli correctly
recognised (Correct answers) and Incorrect number of stimuli measured in percentiles.
4. Results
Table 1. Descriptive statistics and p-value (TAVTMB) (Schuhfried, 2006)
Variables

Mean (Percentile %)

Correct answers

Experimental
Group
58.39

Non-experimental
Group
45.36

Incorrect number of stimuli

46.21

58.35

Standard Deviation
Experimental
Group
14.67
13.81

Man Whitney
test

Non-experimental
Group
18.00

p-value
.0001

19.56

.017

As it is shown in table 1 there are differences between the means of the experimental and the
control group. But in order to verify that the differences are statistically significant firstly the
Kolmogorov-Smirnoff test has been applied for verifying the normal distribution of the data curves of the
5 variables. Because a normal distribution was not obtained for any of the data of the 5 variables (p>0.05),
the non-parametric Man Whitney test has been applied for differences between independent groups.
By applying Man Whitney nonparametric test for independent groups, the research hypothesis has been
confirmed (p<0.05). Therefore, the experimental group with sleep deprivation obtained statistically
significant better performances than the control group at the tachistoscope test for both dependent
variables: correct answers, incorrect number of stimuli. Also table 2 shows information connected to the
statistical significance of the differences between the two groups. Therefore, according to the observed
values of p-value for each of the 5 dependent variables (p<0.05). The research hypothesis has been
confirmed. Therefore we can state that There is a statistical significant difference between the
experimental group influenced by sleep deprivation and the control group concerning short term memory
and attention to details.

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5. Conclusions
The findings provide psychological evidence-based data confirming the assumed hypothesis. Also, it
must be mentioned that on short term, the subjects who were deprived of sleep obtain very good results
compared to the ones from the control group due to the arousal the organism triggers as a defense
mechanism. Previous researches in sleep deprivation on time reaction and multiple stimuli time reaction
underlined and confirmed that during the driving actions when the human operator has to do multiple
actions simultaneous (shifting gears, moving the rear-view mirror, processing exterior stimuli, processing
interior stimuli) can be statistically significant influenced by sleep deprivation (Aniei et all 2010; Aniei,
Chraif, Vlsceanu & Ciolacu, 2011).
The results show that there is a statistically significant difference by using Man Whitney
nonparametric test for both correct answers (p <0.05) and incorrect number of stimuli (p<0.05).
Following previous researches, 24 hours sleep deprivation leads to a decrease in reaction towards multiple
stimuli, mentioning that the significant statistical effect can be observed when obtaining correct
performances (Aniei, Chraif, Vlsceanu & Ciolacu, 2011).
The conclusion of this research study is that short time memory, visual perception field and attention
are influenced by sleep deprivation in obtaining better results for a short time. This is due to the fact that
the human organism enters an activated state as a defence reaction to the sleep deprivation. However, the
results of this research must be correlated with results previously obtained concerning the reaction time
and the reactivity to multiple stimuli as well as the results which concern memory, visual and auditory
perception, long-term motor coordination, more precisely after 30-50 minutes of exposure to different
tasks which need to be achieved.
This is why, this research comes as a support for the recommendation that the psychological
assessment of people must not be done only with screening tests but also with psychological tests which
involve the cognitive processes on a time period of 10 minutes.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the strategic grant POSDRU/89/1.5/S/62259, Project Applied social,
human and political sciences. Postdoctoral training and postdoctoral fellowships in social, human and
political sciences cofinanced by the European Social Fund within the Sectorial Operational Program of
Human Resources Development 2007-2013.
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