A comparison of the behavioral and physiological changes accompanying sleep deprivation and chlorpromazine administration in man

Of the three physiological measures, the EEG appeared to be the least accurate in reflecting variations in alterness, and the possible existence of separate, although closely related, mechanisms within the reticular activating system which mediate behavior on the one hand and the EEG, respiration and peripheral vasomotor tone on the other.

Abstract

1. Eight normal subjects were studied under control conditions, after 66–70 h of sleep deprivation, and after the administration of 200 mg of chlorpromazine. Simultaneous recordings were made of behavior on a test of attention, the EEG, respiration and finger plethysmograph under all conditions. 2. Both sleep deprivation and chlorpromazine produced marked impairment in the performance of the attention test. 3. Errors in performance in the sleep deprivation condition were accompanied by slowing of the EEG, increased respiratory cycle length and increased finger pulse amplitude, as compared with periods when the subjects were performing correctly. Such differences in the physiological accompaniments of performance were far less marked in the chlorpromazine condition. 4. Of the three physiological measures, the EEG appeared to be the least accurate in reflecting variations in alterness. 5. The significance of these findings was discussed in relation to the possible existence of separate, although closely related, mechanisms within the reticular activating system which mediate behavior on the one hand, and the EEG, respiration and peripheral vasomotor tone on the other