Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
In an attempt to tease out the extent to which the performance decline during sleep deprivation might be due to a fall in the inherent capacity (d') of a subject, the parameters of the theory of signal detection were applied to auditory vigilance data obtained five times per 24 h during 60 h of continuous wakefulness. Eight subjects were exposed to both control and deprivation conditions in a balanced design. Oral temperature and self-assessed alert-drowsy reports were taken at three hourly intervals. The value of d' exhibited a significant stepwise decline during deprivation, falling sharply within the usual sleep period and levelling out during the daytime. Both temperature and self-assessment data exhibited clear circadian rhythms overlying the declines due to deprivation. The changes in d' were seen to be consistent with a brain "restitutive" role for sleep function.
Horne et al. (Thu,) studied this question.