According to a new study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, sleep may play an important role in making successful decisions. Psychologist Rebecca Spencer and colleagues studied the role of sleep in affect-guided decision-making, where subjects make decisions on important issues. According to Spencer, “There is something to be gained from taking a night to sleep on it when you’re facing an important decision. We found that the fact that you slept makes your decisions better.”
Two groups were each given a brief preview of a gambling task and were asked to come back 12 hours later. The group that received a preview in the afternoon was able to go home and get a normal night’s sleep, whereas the other group received a preview in the morning and spent the 12 hours before the task awake. The group that slept performed better in terms of understanding the underlying rules of the game and were able to realize the most profit.
Spencer believes this phenomenon may be due to changes in emotional or cognitive processes that occur because of sleep: “Our guess is that this enhanced effect on decision-making is something that depends on rapid-eye-movement or REM sleep, which is the creative period of our sleep cycle.” Spencer and colleagues are now specifically investigating the link between REM sleep duration and success in decision-making tasks.
Two groups were each given a brief preview of a gambling task and were asked to come back 12 hours later. The group that received a preview in the afternoon was able to go home and get a normal night’s sleep, whereas the other group received a preview in the morning and spent the 12 hours before the task awake. The group that slept performed better in terms of understanding the underlying rules of the game and were able to realize the most profit.
Spencer believes this phenomenon may be due to changes in emotional or cognitive processes that occur because of sleep: “Our guess is that this enhanced effect on decision-making is something that depends on rapid-eye-movement or REM sleep, which is the creative period of our sleep cycle.” Spencer and colleagues are now specifically investigating the link between REM sleep duration and success in decision-making tasks.
Written by: Justin Saranovic
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