SUMMAR Y The study had two primary objectives. The first was to determine whether sleep loss results in a preference for tasks demanding minimal effort. The second was to evaluate the quality of performance when participants, under conditions of sleep loss, have control over task demands. In experiment 1, using a repeated-measures design, 50 undergraduate college students were evaluated, following one night of no sleep loss and one night of sleep loss. The Math Effort Task (MET) presented addition problems via computer. Participants were able to select additions at one of five levels of difficulty.Less-demanding problems were selected and more additions were solved correctly when the participants were subject to sleep loss. In experiment 2, 58 undergraduate college students were randomly assigned to a no sleep deprivation or a sleep deprivation condition. Sleep-deprived participants selected less-demanding problems on the MET. Percentage correct on the MET was equivalent for both the non-sleep-deprived and sleep-deprived groups. On a task selection question, the sleep-deprived participants also selected significantly less-demanding non-academic tasks. Increased sleepiness, fatigue, and reaction time were associated with the selection of less difficult tasks. Both groups of participants reported equivalent effort expenditures; sleep-deprived participants did not perceive a reduction in effort. These studies demonstrate that sleep loss results in the choice of low-effort behavior that helps maintain accurate responding.k e y w o r d s effort,

This research investigated 12 precursors to falling love — reciprocal liking, appearance, personality, similarity, familiarity, social influence, filling needs, arousal, readiness, specific cues, isolation, and mysteriousness — with respect to culture, ethnicity, gender, and speed. In Study 1, White-American and Asian-American participants wrote narratives of their falling in love experiences. In Study 2, participants from the United States and China wrote narratives and completed self-ratings of the precursors. Few ethnic, gender, and speed differences were obtained in either study, but those found were in the predicted direction. Many cultural differences were found in Study 2, the majority of which were consistent with individualism-collectivism models. Implications for understanding falling in love and directions for future research are discussed.

Adolescents' sleep and next day effort was studied in 18 female competitive adolescent athletes. A subjective assessment of the previous night's sleep, their perception of the difficulty of the choices offered and the difficulty of tasks selected was completed before routine lessons. Sleep amount was related to the perception of the difficulty of the task, while awakenings were related to an avoidance of the least preferred maneuvers. Individuals who experienced the greatest number of awakenings and most time awake at night were more likely to select the least difficult of these tasks. Sleep disturbance in adolescence may magnify the challenges they experience and cause them to underestimate their ability to meet those challenges.