J. Sleep Res. Being able to assess risk and respond accordingly has not been explored in any depth following sleep loss. We used a complex, strategy task, adapted from the clinical field 1. In this task, four packs of cards are presented face down. Each card is associated with a reward value.
Some cards also have penalty values.
Subjects are instructed to select a card from any pack. The aim of the task is for subjects to make an overall profit by the end of 80 selections. SD performed the task at the end of 36 h sleep deprivation. Control performed the task at the same time of day, but having slept 7-8h the night before. Financial incentives, based on final profit level were used to encourage interest in the task.