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.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Content with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 1,059 questions covering Diagnosis of mental disorders (4 Ds), Classification systems (DSM and ICD), Schizophrenia and one other disorder, Treatments for the two disorders, Individual differences, and Developmental psychology, matched to the Edexcel A Level Psychology (9PS0) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
