Sleep deprivation can cause people to be overly optimistic about their situations and make risky decisions.

It is well known that casinos in Las Vegas have hidden tricks to keep gamblers awake all night long, from the light and noise to the patterns on the extremely colored carpets. Neuroscientists have confirmed that the mechanism by which casinos make money by keeping patrons awake is not only that “everyone stays awake to spend money,” but also that “patrons who stay awake longer are more likely to make risky decisions that could result in the loss of large sums of money.

Experiments conducted at Duke University-affiliated medical schools have shown that in the brains of sleep-deprived people, the part of the brain that estimates the “gain” that may result from a decision is more active, while the part that estimates the “loss” that may be lost as a result of that decision is less active. In other words, sleep-deprived people are less likely to think deeply about what they will lose when they lose a “bet,” and are more likely to make a “big bet” in search of a larger profit.

Although sleep deprivation has already been shown to affect decision-making ability, many studies have linked poor decision-making ability due to sleep deprivation to impaired attention and memory, as well as the ability to integrate and analyze various factors such as the “cost” and “effect” of an action.

According to a study by Michael Chee, professor of neurobehavioral sciences at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, a joint medical school of Duke University and the National University of Singapore, sleep-deprived individuals are more likely to focus on “effectiveness” because this “cost” seems small to begin with. The paper is published in the Journal of Neuroscience. The paper appears in the March 8, 2011 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
In their experiment, Chee and colleagues asked 29 healthy adult subjects, average age 22, to perform an economic decision-making task (a decision-making game with a financial “reward” or “loss” depending on its outcome, so-called gambling) and used fMRI to observe brain activity during the task and while being told the outcome of the gambling game. The results showed that the subjects stayed up all night.
The results showed that the subjects were more likely to make a decision to “increase profit” than a decision to “reduce loss” when they performed the task at 6 am after an all-nighter, compared to when they performed the task at 8 am after a normal night’s sleep, and that the sleep-deprived brains showed increased activity in the part of the brain estimating “positive outcomes” and In addition, when told the outcome of their gambling, they were more sensitive to “rewards” and less sensitive to “losses.

In other words, sleep-deprived gamblers are more insensitive to the pain of losing 10,000 yen and more sensitive to the pleasure of gaining 100,000 yen. If a person who is anxious and pessimistic by nature only thinks about “what if I lose the bet” and makes firm decisions to “limit the loss,” in other words, only taking small bets, a sleep-deprived person, on the contrary, is optimistic and high-spirited, thinking only about “what if I win the bet” and “making a big profit. They are more likely to take a big gamble, thinking only of “if I win the bet, I’ll make a bigger profit.

Casinos are known to try all kinds of ways to get you to play “big” with loud noises, flashing lights, free alcohol, and money that has been converted into “chips” or “credits” and loses its “money-like” value. It seems that gamblers must not only contend with external temptations, but also with an internal enemy: sleep deprivation and optimism.

Satoshi

Hello, I’m Satoshi. I’ve been working as a staff member for an organization for over a decade. During that time, I’ve had various experiences, from launching new businesses to streamlining operations using information I’ve gathered from the internet and my own experiences. Of course, I’ve been successful with the help of colleagues and superiors, and I’m grateful to them. Nowadays, I find myself in a position where people from various backgrounds ask me for advice and share their knowledge. However, being constantly approached has made me realize that I need to protect my own time. So, I’ve decided to start a blog called ‘Satoshi Lab’ to share knowledge. I hope that by writing about my thoughts and experiences, people will enjoy reading and find it helpful in their own journeys.