• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Features
  • Campus News
  • CSUDH.edu
  • Contact
  • People
    • Staff Spotlight
    • Faculty Highlights
    • Alumni
  • Magazine
  • For Journalists
    • CSUDH In The News
    • Press Releases
    • Facts and Figures
    • Find Media Experts
    • Gallery

CSUDH News

The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

You are here: Home / Archive / Features / Shari Berkowitz and her colleagues discover that sleep deprivation increases risk of false confession

Shari Berkowitz and her colleagues discover that sleep deprivation increases risk of false confession

February 8, 2016

Shari Berkowitz

Shari R. Berkowitz, an assistant professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), and her fellow researchers provide the first empirical evidence that sleep deprivation increases the risk an innocent person will falsely confess to an act of wrongdoing.

Berkowitz and her colleagues published their paper “Sleep deprivation and false confessions,” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).  Berkowitz assisted in designing the experiment, creating the research materials, and writing the paper.

The researchers’ breakthrough study found that after a single request, the odds of participants providing a false admission were 4.5 times higher if they had been deprived of sleep for 24 hours than if they had slept eight hours the night before.

“We know false confessions happen, but these findings shed light on a new factor–sleep deprivation– which may lead people to be more likely to falsely confess,” said Berkowitz, who teaches criminal justice administration at CSUDH.

The results have significant implications for those who interrogate individuals. Previous research indicates that law enforcement sometimes interrogate unrested or sleep-deprived suspects, but the study’s findings suggest that caution may be warranted. It found that innocent suspects can and do falsely confess to crimes they never committed; false confessions have played a role in approximately 25 percent of DNA exonerations in the United States.

We know false confessions happen, but these findings shed light on a new factor. – Shari Berkowitz

Along with Berkowitz, the research was conducted by Steven J. Frenda of the New School for Social Research, Professor Elizabeth F. Loftus, University of California, Irvine, and Kimberly M. Fenn, associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University (MSU).

Conducting the Research

The experiment, conducted at MSU’s Sleep and Learning Lab, consisted of 88 participants who completed several computer tasks and questionnaires in the laboratory (Session 1). Participants were repeatedly (and falsely) warned that they should not press the “escape” key on their computer keyboards, as it would cause the loss of “valuable data.”

Approximately one week later, participants returned to the lab (Session 2). Half were assigned to sleep for eight hours while the other half stayed awake overnight. The next morning (Session 3), participants received a statement summarizing their prior activities in the lab. The statement included a false accusation that they had pressed the escape key during Session 1. Participants were then asked to sign the statement, and check a box confirming its accuracy.

After a single request, the results showed that 50 percent of sleep-deprived participants signed the statement, while only 18 percent of rested participants, as did.

Participants who reported being particularly sleepy, as indicated by their response on the Stanford Sleepiness Scale, were more likely to sign the statement regardless of whether they were awake all night or sleeping in the lab.

The research also indicated that sleep-deprived participants who displayed impulsive problem-solving styles, as measured by the Cognitive Reflection Test, were especially likely to falsely admit to the wrongdoing.​

“Further research on the effects of sleep deprivation on innocent and guilty suspects is needed, but it is exciting to know that these findings provide an important first step linking sleep deprivation and false confessions,” said Berkowitz.

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Business, Criminal Justice

Recent Features

Lukas Daniels

Anthropology Graduate Brings Personal Perspective to Research

May 20, 2022

The CSUDH Class of 2022 has had many obstacles to overcome to reach graduation—and graduating senior Lukas Daniels (BA, Anthropology) is no different. He transferred from El Camino College to CSUDH in the spring of 2020, just in time for the campus to “go virtual” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As he and his fellow ... Read More

Kroener and Bretado making Toro hand signal

Aspiring Prosthetist Grads Specialize in Empathy

May 19, 2022

For Martha Bretado and Rachel Kroener, the field of prosthetics is about much more than creating new artificial limbs for patients. As people who have physical disabilities themselves, the two students understand the importance of fostering community with their patients, building up their confidence, and showing them ... Read More

CSUDH Mental Health Resources Expand and Adapt

CSUDH Mental Health Resources Expand and Adapt

May 11, 2022

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing hardships, college students were not immune to the nation’s widespread rise in mental health issues. Studies from the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) found that pre-COVID, one in four young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 had a diagnosable mental ... Read More

... see all Featured Stories

Footer

California State University, Dominguez Hills Logo

1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747
1-310-243-2001 • Send Email

Related Sites

  • csudh.edu
  • magazine.csudh.edu
  • gotoros.com

EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Get CSUDH News directly in your inbox

Copyright © 2022 · California State University, Dominguez Hills