The effects of sleep quantity on working memory and fluid intelligence.

The present pilot study investigated the effects of sleep deprivation on working memory performance and fluid intelligence. This study also investigated if 2 hours of additional sleep per day over a 2-week period could improve working memory performance and fluid intelligence. Lastly, this study sought to find a relationship between working memory and fluid intelligence. Working memory was measured using the Automated Operation Span task (AOSPAN) while fluid intelligence was measured using the Advanced Ravens Matrices task. AOSPAN and the Advanced Ravens Matrices task were chosen for their high predictive power over working memory and fluid intelligence respectively. Besides that, a high correlation has also been found between the AOSPAN and Advanced Ravens Matrices tasks. Participants were assigned to groups based on the number of hours they slept a week. Those in the sleep-deprived condition slept 40 hours or less a week while those in the non sleep-deprived condition slept more than 52 hours a week. This is the first study to compare groups of participants who are within the normal range of sleep with those who are bordering around the normal range of sleep. This is also the first study to test the effects of sleep increment on working memory performance and fluid intelligence.Bachelor of Art