Understanding and Predicting the Cognitive Effects of Sleep Loss Through Simulation

• Published in: Translational issues in psychological science 2015-03, Vol.1 (1), p.106-115
• Main Authors: Gunzelmann, Glenn, Veksler, Bella Z., Walsh, Matthew M., Gluck, Kevin A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cognitive Processes; Computational Modeling; Fatigue; Human; Mathematical Modeling; Simulation; Sleep Deprivation
• ISSN: 2332-2136; 2332-2179
• DOI: 10.1037/tps0000017

Sleep loss impacts cognitive functioning, and the resulting performance changes can have dramatic consequences in the real world. The increased risk to property and human life has motivated decades of empirical research on fatigue and its effects on performance. Models now exist that can predict the general time course and magnitude of changes in cognitive function caused by fatigue. These models have enabled the development of tools that are useful for shift work and sleep scheduling to improve safety. However, these models are incapable of making a priori predictions regarding the precise, task-specific effects that sleep loss and circadian rhythms will have on performance. Such a capability would make it possible to perform simulation-based risk assessments by conducting systematic evaluations over spaces of system designs, training approaches, policy interventions, and sleep/work schedules. It would also support monitoring technologies to detect behavioral evidence of fatigue. To develop such applications, computational process models that run in simulation are needed to produce behavior predictions in the domains of interest. In this article we review and summarize research committed to precisely this goal, we assess progress to date, and we describe remaining challenges on the path to application.