Twenty-Hour Sleep Deprivation Does Not Affect Perceived Vection Strength

Abstract

We examined the effect of sleep deprivation on self-motion perception (vection). We measured the strength of vection, its latency, and its duration in two conditions: Sleep-Deprivation and Normal-Sleep (by using the between-subject design). For the Sleep-Deprivation condition, participants did not sleep for about 20 hours. We also recorded subjective sleepiness with a subjective rating scale that was filled out by the participants. Results showed that vection strength did not differ between the two conditions. Sleep deprivation did not have any clear effect on vection. As expected, subjective sleepiness significantly increased following sleep deprivation. Further, subjective sleepiness significantly correlated with vection latency and duration only in the Normal-Sleep condition. Vection was immune to sleep deprivation. We conclude that when people are not deprived of sleep, sleepiness can enhance the perceived strength of vection.