A couple of years ago scientists in California had an intriguing theory. Might a lack of sleep affect a person’s desire to help out another human being? And so, like all good scientists, they put it to the test.
First they recruited 24 adults and split them into two groups – one of which pulled an all-nighter, while the other slept normally. Then they got everyone to answer a series of questions, such as “I would offer my seat on a crowded bus to a 60-year-old woman”, and perform a social cognition task, while their brains underwent an MRI scan. Finally, they replayed the experiment, swapping the groups.
