Fast but faulty: Poor sleep skews intuitive–reflective balance in emergency decision-making

Sleep deprivation is a critical ergonomic risk in safety-critical industries, impairing work performance. This study investigates its impact on emergency decision quality via a cognitive resource management framework, arguing that sleep loss depletes executive resources, shifting individuals to intuitive over reflective processing as a conservation mechanism - forming a 'fast but faulty' pattern that elevates error precursors. A multi-method investigation combined human electroencephalogram (EEG) during maze tasks with rodent models. Results showed that poor sleep increased intuitive processing neural markers while suppressing reflective control, mediating decision impairments. Parallel rodent findings exhibited rapid but ineffective avoidance behaviours, complementing the behavioural trends observed in humans. These results elucidate a neuroergonomic pathway where sleep deprivation degrades emergency decision-making via skewed cognitive allocation, providing a neuroergonomic rationale for exploring sleep-focused monitoring as a potential component of broader safety management systems.