SLEEP DEPRIVATION EFFECTS ON COMPONENTS OF DRIVING BEHAVIOR

IN TWO EXPERIMENTS (USING A DUAL-CONTROL CAR AND CHECK DRIVER FOR SAFETY PURPOSES) OBSERVATIONS AND RATINGS WERE MADE OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION EFFECTS ON DRIVER BEHAVIOR DURING FIVE-HOUR RUNS ON DIVIDED HIGHWAYS. BOTH EXTREME SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND SPACED SLEEP DEPRIVATION (MORE USUAL WHEN DRIVERS START AFTER LONG HOURS OF PREPARATION FOR A HOLIDAY OR A STRENUOUS BUSINESS SCHEDULE) WERE USED. STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN DRIVING EFFICIENCY ITEMS WERE FOUND NOT ONLY BETWEEN THE SLEEP-DEPRIVED AND NORMAL RUNS, BUT ALSO WITH INCREASING TIME DURING BOTH NORMAL AND DEPRIVED RUNS. THE EFFECTS WERE MORE DRAMATIC IN THE EXTREME DEPRIVATION RUNS WHERE FOUR OUT OF FIVE SUBJECTS ACTUALLY DOZED AT THE WHEEL AND THE FIFTH PRACTICALLY DID SO. SIMILAR EFFECTS WERE ALSO FOUND, HOWEVER, IN THE LESS SEVERE, SPACED DEPRIVATION. /AUTHOR/