Nazir is taking part in research on the effects of sleep deprivation; he has been without sleep for 75 hours. Right now, researchers have asked him to sit in front of a computer screen and hit a button each time he sees the letter S on the screen. A few days ago, Nazir was a whiz at this task; however, he is doing very poorly today. How are sleep researchers likely to explain Nazir's poor performance?
A) Due to the sleep deprivation, Nazir does not understand the task.
B) Microsleeps are occurring due to the sleep deprivation, and Nazir is asleep for brief periods of time.
C) Nazir is determined to ruin the research because of the suffering he is enduring at the hands of the researchers.
D) Nazir is probably dreaming that he is somewhere else and has no interest in responding to the "here and now."

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Sleep deprivation often leads to microsleeps, which are brief periods (for a few seconds or less) of sleep that occur even when an individual is trying to stay awake. During microsleeps, the brain is essentially "shutting down" and is not capable of performing tasks, such as hitting a button in response to a stimulus on a screen. Therefore, Nazir's poor performance is likely due to his brain experiencing microsleeps rather than being able to fully concentrate on the task at hand.

Nazir Is Taking Part in Research on the Effects of Sleep