Cognitive Fatigue

Military service members are called upon to perform critical mission tasks 24/7 with the presence of cognitive fatigue (CF) due to sleep deprivation and circadian misalignment. These mission tasks require immense readiness, alertness and high-level performance, which cognitive fatigue can severely effect. Thus, gaining a deep understanding of cognitive fatigue (CF) is needed to help military and civilian settings deal with the potentially devastating risks associated with performance gaps from CF. This study will focus on determining the brain changes and neurocognitive performance caused by CF through the use of neuroimaging techniques, neurocognitive testing and ambulatory EEG. This will be done by sleep depriving participants in a total sleep deprivation paradigm. At the completion of the study, the data will be used to help create a multiscale mathematical model that would determine the effects of cognitive fatigue in individuals.