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Abstract
Introduction Vigilance decrement can be defined as a decline in accurate responses (Whittaker & Johnston, 2022, Grier et al, 2003), which can be used to measure vigilance and alertness. This study aimed to measure the relationship between sleepiness and vigilance within a student sample; as well as to investigate the relationship between vigilance and hypersomnolence in student in sample.
Methods A total of 62 participants completed the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) and were given a Sustained attention reaction time task (SART) experiment to complete.
Results A multiple linear regression was used to assess whether excessive sleepiness or sleepiness predicted the number of errors on the SART task. No significant effect was found between the predictor variables and error or reaction time within the SART task.
Discussion This research provides evidence to suggest that participants enrolled in higher education experiencing hypersomnolence and sleepiness are not vulnerable to increased vigilance decrement. The findings of this study are similar to those found in other populations such as nurses and healthcare workers (Pélissier et al, 2021). This study may suggest that attentional resources are not impacted by hypersomnolence in a student population.
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