Researchers investigated the neurological impact of chronic sleep restriction on reactive aggression. Healthy young adults were restricted to 4 hours of sleep per night for 5 consecutive days (sleep-restricted group), while controls slept 8 hours per night. On day 6, participants completed a competitive reaction time task where they could administer blast noise to an opponent. fMRI scans during the task revealed that sleep-restricted participants showed a 35% reduction in functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the amygdala, alongside a 3-fold increase in high-intensity noise blasts (reactive aggression) compared to controls.
Explain one practical application of the findings of this study.
88 exam-style questions on Edexcel A Level Psychology Content, covering Central nervous system and neurotransmitters, Effect of recreational drugs on transmission, Brain structure and aggression, Evolution and natural selection, Freud's psychodynamic explanation of aggression, Role of hormones in aggression, Individual differences, and Developmental psychology. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.