Sleep loss and performance: no "safe" duration of a monotonous task

Abstract

The capacity to maintain vigilance generally falls with time on task. However, it has been suggested that, for example, the effects of sleep loss need a rather long time on task to become evident. The present experiment examined when significant deterioration of performance occurred in a 34-min visual vigilance task (with 32 signals) given to twelve subjects every 3 h across 64 h without sleep. Results from the whole test, the first eight signals, and even the first signal varied significantly across the experiment and were significantly lower than baseline after 24 h awake. The rate of decline over time on task was similar across the experiment. Less than half the misses could be attributed to electrophysiologically defined sleepiness. It was concluded that there is no "safe" duration of a monotonous task if the situation is undemanding and boring, but that the effect may become immediately evident. This may have practical implications in terms of safety.