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Self‐monitoring cognitive performance during sleep deprivation: effects of modafinil, d‐amphetamine and placebo
Author(s) -
BARANSKI JOSEPH,
PIGEAU ROSS
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of sleep research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2869
pISSN - 0962-1105
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2869.1997.00032.x
Subject(s) - modafinil , sleep deprivation , amphetamine , effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance , psychology , cognition , placebo , elementary cognitive task , task (project management) , audiology , medicine , psychiatry , neuroscience , dopamine , alternative medicine , management , pathology , economics
Self‐monitoring refers to the ability to assess accurately one's own performance in a specific environment. The present study investigated the effects of the stimulating drugs modafinil (300 mg) and d‐amphetamine (20 mg) on the ability to self‐monitor cognitive performance during 64 h of sleep deprivation (SD) and sustained mental work. Two cognitive tasks were investigated: a visual (perceptual) judgment task and a complex mental addition task. Subjects in the placebo condition displayed marked circadian and SD effects on cognitive task performance but their self‐monitoring was substantively undisturbed by SD. Subjects performing under the influence of d‐amphetamine likewise displayed highly proficient self‐monitoring throughout the SD period. In contrast, modafinil had a disruptive effect on self‐monitoring, inducing a reliable «overconfidence» effect (i.e. an overestimation of actual cognitive performance), which was particularly marked 2–4 h post‐dose. Although modafinil has proven to be a safe and effective countermeasure to the effects of extensive SD on cognitive task performance, we encourage a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between its subjective and performance enhancing effects before the drug is recommended as a viable fatigue countermeasure.