The Effects of Sleep Efficiency and Duration on College Students’ Performance on the Stroop Test Kayla M. Mullins Faculty mentor: Alexandria M. Reynolds The University of Virginia’s College at Wise
The current study examines the relationship between sleep and cognition in college-aged students. Ten undergraduate students (4 males), average age M = 19.30 years, wore actigraph sleep monitors for one week to measure their normal sleep habits. After one week, the participants performed cognitive tasks on the computer, including the color-word Stroop test. The Pearson correlation indicated that there was a significant positive, moderate association between sleep efficiency and Stroop incongruent errors, r(8) = .714, p = .020; sleep duration and incongruent errors were not related. Surprisingly, preliminary results suggest that as sleep became more efficient, the cognitive errors increased. Furthermore, the Pearson correlation indicated that there was a significant negative, moderate association between sleep duration and Stroop congruent errors, r(8) = -.621, p = .055; sleep efficiency and congruent errors were not related. These preliminary results confirm previous studies, suggesting that as sleep duration decreased, participants made more errors.
Kayla McKenzie Mullins is a third-year psychology major from Clintwood, Virginia. After she graduates from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, she aspires to earn her doctorate in experimental cognitive psychology with a concentration in psycholinguistics and eventually become a college professor.
