Award Title: The impact of sleep deprivation and anxiety on social understanding and social functioning
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Being able to identify other people's perspectives, beliefs and feelings (SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING) is crucial for everyday social interactions. There is evidence that social understanding is significantly affected by ANXIETY and SLEEP DEPRIVATION. When Anxiety or Sleep Deprivation is induced, people are worse at understanding others. In clinical conditions associated with poor sleep and anxiety, problems with social functioning are observed. We do not know the mechanism through which sleep deprivation and anxiety affect social understanding and we do not know whether social functioning difficulties are mediated by problems with social understanding.

1) My FIRST OBJECTIVE is to map the mechanism for how induced sleep deprivation and anxiety affect social understanding. Work Package 1 includes three studies to address this objective. We will use systematic induction of sleep deprivation and anxiety and measure the impact on belief-reasoning and empathy.  At the end of this project, we will know how acute sleep deprivation and anxiety affect different aspects of social understanding, including - (i) global performance, (ii) social motivation and (iii) self-other distinction. 

2) My SECOND OBJECTIVE is to model the relationship between individual differences in sleep, anxiety, social understanding and social functioning. Work Package 2 includes large-scale measurement of individual differences in sleep, anxiety, social understanding and social functioning. We will analyse these data using Structural Equation Modelling. At the end of this project, we will know whether longer-term variation in sleep and anxiety relates to social functioning. We will also know whether individual differences in social understanding mediate this relationship. 

3) My THIRD OBJECTIVE is to relate the empirical findings of the project to the broader theoretical and practical implications of the relationship between sleep, anxiety and social understanding. This will form the basis of a review paper. At the end of this project, we will have a clear and integrated model for the relationship between sleep, anxiety and social understanding. This model will provide for specific predictions for the neural basis of the relationship between sleep, anxiety and social understanding, and for the impact of sleep and anxiety on social functioning in clinical conditions.

As PI, I am in a unique position to understand the methods and theoretical issues in this project. As appropriate for a New Investigator Grant, the project includes specific objectives to progress to independence. 

4) My FOURTH OBJECTIVE is to develop specific research skills in sleep deprivation and Structural Equation Modelling. Training in sleep deprivation will be undertaken in a research visit to Monash University, with support from Dr Clare Anderson. Ongoing local support will be provided by Dr Andrew Bagshaw. Training in Structural Equation Modelling will be undertaken in a week-long course. At the end of this project, I will have skills and experience in a new experimental method (sleep deprivation) and a new analytical technique (Structural Equation Modelling).

5) My FIFTH OBJECTIVE is to develop research leadership skills necessary for independence. This will be achieved by a clear mentorship plan with an experienced senior academic - Professor Jane Raymond (see mentor statement). Two research lab visits are included in the project to international collaborators on the grant - Dr Anderson (Monash) and Dr Andrew Todd (University of California - Davis). These collaborations will support international impact, crucial for establishing a world-leading reputation. At the end of the project, I will have the skills and experience to manage large research grants independently.

Lay Abstract: Poor sleep and anxiety pose significant economic and social challenges. Inadequate sleep costs the UK economy 1.3-1.9% of Gross Domestic Product each year and has significant health and social consequences. Common mental health difficulties, such as anxiety, account for 17.6 million sick days yearly and reduce GDP by around 1.3%. Additional to this are the indirect costs of poor sleep and anxiety - the costs to our social understanding, social interaction and social relationships. Understanding other people's perspectives, beliefs, desires and feelings is important. The sophistication with which humans do this is one of the things that has led to our success as a species. We live in large communities and cooperate to meet shared goals. We learn from others, teach our children and care for those more vulnerable than ourselves. Each of these activities relies on our understanding of what other people see, believe, want or feel. Sometimes others tell us this information, but sometimes we have to infer it from the way they act. 

Everyday experience suggests poor sleep and anxiety affect our social understanding. Who has not noticed anxious students nervously ignoring each other as they wait for an exam? How many of us have spent time apologizing to our mothers when we forgot to send them a birthday card because we were exhausted after over-working towards a deadline? Emerging experimental evidence supports the suggestion that sleep deprivation and anxiety can change our social understanding and that those with long-term experiences of sleep problems or anxiety experience social difficulties. What is less clear is exactly how sleep and anxiety impact on our social understanding and how variability in these experiences impacts our longer-term social functioning. One hypothesis that is consistent with the literature is that anxiety makes us more selfish, encouraging us to focus on our own point of view at the expense of others. Another is that sleep deprivation makes us more muddled, making it harder to distinguish between our own point of view and other people's. A third is that those with better sleep and lower levels of anxiety will function better in the longer term because they understand people better.

To look at the impact of sleep deprivation, we will test people on three tasks, after having them remain awake for a whole night. The tasks will investigate their ability to think about other people's thoughts and feelings. Their responses will be informative as to whether sleep deprivation has caused them to have difficulties in distinguishing between their own thoughts and feelings, and other people's. To look at the impact of anxiety, we will induce anxiety in people and then have them do the very same tasks. People will be made anxious by recalling and writing about a time they felt anxious. Here, we predict people's responses will show evidence of increased selfishness in their judgments.  To look at the relationship between long-term, everyday tendencies towards anxiety and poor sleep, and social difficulties, participants will complete a number of questionnaires and short experimental tasks. We will use sophisticated statistical modelling to test the relationship between people's traits in these areas.

Each of these experiments will provide exciting new evidence for how everyday experiences impact on our social understanding. They will also open up new avenues for investigation, looking at the impact of these findings. Clearer evidence for the way in which poor sleep and anxiety impact social understanding is highly relevant to clinical populations, such as those with insomnia, generalized anxiety disorder and autism. Further, specialist populations, such as new parents, junior doctors or soldiers in combat have to experience poor sleep and anxiety at the same time as making crucial social judgments. The novel insights offered by our project will provide a model for understanding how their abilities are affected.

Research Activity Codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES;2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health Categories: MENTAL HEALTH