The effect of sleep-loss on processing information in the functional visual field

Two experiments are reported on the effects of sleepstate on performance in a same/different matching task, where two visual signals are presented under visual angles of either 10°, 45°, or 100°. The first study showed a stronger effect of sleep-loss at a more wide display. The effect consists of two parts: one is interpreted as due to the initiation and execution of the shift of gaze from the one to the other signal, and the other to the requirement of integrating successively perceived signals. These interpretations were tested in the second study. It was found that a more pronounced effect of sleep loss occurred when two signals are successively presented, but not when the signals are simultaneously viewed, while preceded by a shift of gaze. The implications of the data are discussed.