Dr. David Dickinson, Professor of Economics at Appalachian's Walker College of Business, has been invited to give lectures on his research at the University of Auckland and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand; and the Universities of Sydney, Technology Sydney, and Monash Universities in Australia while on Off Campus Scholarly Assignment (OCSA).
The seminars will take place between Oct. 1-14 and will focus on recently completed grant research on sleep and decision making.
During Dickinson's study, volunteers were administered a set of decision tasks, either in early morning or evening hours, to test the hypothesis that the decision processes a person uses while sleepy were more automatic and less a product of the brain's high-level deliberation process.
The study allowed the researchers to evaluate whether decisions based on automatic processes were worse, or less efficient, than decisions made based on more complex deliberative processes.
"Following one week of moderate sleep restriction - of the sort common in young adults.....5-6 hours per night sleep, subjects behave generally more greedy in simple 2-person interactions," explained Dickinson. "They demand more in simple pie-splitting games, and in a simple trust environment they both trust less and are less trustworthy following sleep restriction, compared to following one week of well-rested 8-9 hrs/night sleep."
While on OCSA, Dickinson will interact with faculty at each institution, as well as participate in collaborative research with faculty at University of Auckland and Monash University.
Dickinson's OCSA trip and opportunities were made possible with funding from the Appalachian's Department of Economics and the Walker College of Business, as well as with funding from the University of Auckland, University of Canterbury, University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, and Monash University.
David Dickinson
