Sleep’s Effect on Cognitive Capability

Overview

TC Williams High School Sleep deprivation among adolescents is common due to academic studies and athletic participation, causing a potential decrease in academic performance. This study determines if cognitive abilities, more specifically learning and memory, are affected by sleep in both humans and in a Drosophila melanogaster model. Human subjects complete a demographics survey, wear a fitbit for seven nights and take two cognitive tests: a concussion baseline test measuring reaction time and short term memory and a balance test assessing spatial awareness and long-term memory. Wingless D. melanogaster were given two cognitive tests: an olfactory avoidance test for short term memory and a spatial orientational test for long term memory. Comparisons will be drawn between the short- term and long-term memory results in both subjects. Experimentation is in progress. In the human study, 32 people have participated, and regression analyses were run for participants with usable data. In the Drosophila study, prototyping is complete for the cognitive test apparatuses, but after completing the procedure twice, it was determined further prototyping is necessary for the sleep deprivation method. The next steps are to continue human trials when it is safe to do so, continue prototyping the Drosophila methodology, and to test my hypothesis.