Post-Awakening Visualization Performance as a Function of Anxiety Level, REM or NREM Sleep, and Time of Night.
Abstract
The determinants of post-arousal performance (PAP) decrement are not well established. Prior research has suggested that PAP should be better on cognitive tasks after REM than after NREM sleep. Level of anxiety and time-of-night (TON) also have been implicated as being important in PAP. On the basis of their Q4 scores (calm-tense) on the 16 PF, 16 'calm' and 16 moderately 'tense' young adult male Ss were aroused twice each night on two non-consecutive nights in the laboratory and tested with two visualization tests in a 3- to 15-minute period after arousal. REM and NREM awakenings were counterbalanced for early (about 1:00 A.M.) and late (about 3:00 A.M.) positions across nights and subjects. No REM-NREM effects were found on PAP. This was interpreted to mean that PAP deficits for the post-awakening period tested are due to the tonic effects of sleep per se and not to sleep stage. TON effects were not interpreted, since awakenings could not be positioned according to the pre-experimental plan. No significant PAP differences were found between clam and tense Ss. One significant difference was found between the PAP of night Ss and the performance of comparable day Ss. Specifically, a comparison of the day Ss' second trial and the night Ss' fourth trial showed that tense Ss' performance was inferior at night to that in the day. No such difference was found between day- and night-calm Ss. These results strongly suggest that the most important determinant of PAP is the anxiety level of the Ss. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1972
- Accession Number
- AD0738630
Entities
People
- Robert B. Tebbs
Organizations
- United States Air Force Academy