Classic Studies

The Sleep for Science director, Mary A. Carskadon, was involved with a number of classic sleep studies while in training and as a researcher at Stanford University in the laboratory of Dr. William C. Dement. This pioneering research in sleep set the ground work for much of our group’s current research and includes development of a widely used test of sleepiness (the Multiple Sleep Latency Test), collaboration in developing scoring methods for sleep, studies using unique and innovative sleep schedules, and a beginning focus on sleep across the lifespan. The sections below provide citations to papers from some of Dr. Carskadon’s earliest research. This research was funded in large part by NIMH, the Spencer Foundation, and NIA.

90-Minute Day Studies

The 90-minute day studies examined how sleep and sleepiness evolve in people living on this very unusual schedule. Much was learned about the regulation of sleep from these and other similar studies in other labs.

Carskadon, M.A. and Dement, W.C. Sleep studies on a 90-minute day. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 39: 145-155, 1975.
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Carskadon, M.A. and Dement, W.C. Sleepiness and sleep state on a 90-minute schedule. Psychophysiology 14: 127-133, 1977.
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Carskadon, M.A. and Dement, W.C. Distribution of REM sleep on a 90-minute sleep-wake schedule. Sleep 2: 309-317, 1980.
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Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT)

Many of the earliest studies with the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) were performed in Stanford Summer Sleep Lab in the Lambda Nu building on the Stanford campus. These studies included college students, patients with sleep disorders, and children and adolescents. The studies in children and teens are listed under the Stanford Sleep Camp section. This research was funded in large part by the Spencer Foundation and NIMH.

Carskadon, M.A. and Dement, W.C. Sleep tendency: an objective measure of sleep loss. Sleep Research 6: 200, 1977.

Richardson, G.S., Carskadon, M.A., Flagg, W., van den Hoed, J., Dement, W.C., and Mitler, M.M. Excessive daytime sleepiness in man: multiple sleep latency measurement in narcoleptic and control subjects. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 45: 621-627, 1978.

Carskadon, M.A. and Dement, W.C. Effects of total sleep loss on sleep tendency. Percept. Motor Skills 48: 495-506, 1979.
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Mitler, M.M., van den Hoed, J., Carskadon, M.A., Richardson, G.S., Park, R., Guilleminault, C., and Dement, W.C. REM sleep episodes during the multiple sleep latency test in narcoleptic patients. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 46: 479-481, 1979.

Carskadon, M.A. and Dement, W.C. Cumulative effects of sleep restriction on daytime sleepiness. Psychophysiology 18: 107-113, 1981.
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Carskadon, M.A., Dement, W.C., Mitler, M.M., Roth, T., Westbrook, P., and Keenan, S. Guidelines for the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT): a standard measure of sleepiness. Sleep 9: 519-524, 1986.
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Carskadon, M.A. and Dement, W. C. Daytime sleepiness: Quantification of a behavioral state. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 11: 307-317, 1987.
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Carskadon, M.A. Evaluation of excessive daytime sleepiness. Clin. Neurophysiol. 23: 91-100, 1993.
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Stanford Sleep Camp

Many of the studies Dr. Carskadon performed at Stanford involved examining sleep and daytime sleepiness in people of different ages. Working with children in the classic “sleep camp” studies, Dr. Carskadon showed changes in daytime sleepiness levels associated with pubertal development. Our group is only now finding clues as to how these changes come about. Working with older individuals, Dr. Carskadon and her colleagues showed that very brief (transient) arousals during sleep were related to changes in daytime sleepiness. Other studies involved keeping participants of various ages awake all night and examining the effects on subsequent sleep, sleepiness and performance. These and other studies are referenced below. They were funded in large part by NIMH, NIA, and the Spencer Foundation.

Carskadon, M.A., Harvey, K., Duke, P., Anders, T.F., Litt, I.F., and Dement, W.C. Pubertal changes in daytime sleepiness. Sleep 2: 453-460, 1980.
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Carskadon, M.A. and Acebo, C. Regulation of sleepiness in adolescence: Update, insights, and speculation. Sleep 25:606-616, 2002.
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Carskadon, M.A., Harvey, K., and Dement, W.C. Acute restriction of nocturnal sleep in children. Percept. Motor Skills 53: 103-112, 1981.
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Carskadon, M.A., Harvey, K., and Dement, W.C. Sleep loss in young adolescents. Sleep 4: 299-312, 1981.
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Carskadon, M.A., Brown, E.D., and Dement, W. C. Sleep fragmentation in the elderly: relationship to daytime sleep tendency. Neurobiol. Aging 3: 321-327, 1982.
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Carskadon, M.A. and Dement, W. C. Sleep loss in elderly volunteers. Sleep 8: 207-221, 1985.
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