AMES, Iowa – During the course of a criminal investigation, it is common for investigators to interview individuals who are exhausted and have had little sleep. While unavoidable in some cases, a new Iowa State University study found sleep disruption or deprivation may limit the amount of information provided during an interview.
The study, published in the academic journal SLEEP, is one of the first to look at how sleep affects behavior during interrogations or interviews. Zlatan Krizan, an ISU professor of psychology, says while beliefs about the impact of sleep on interrogation subjects have existed for decades, he and co-authors, ISU professor Christian Meissner and graduate student Anthony Miller, found little direct scientific evidence related to its effectiveness. Krizan says the findings from their study have implications for suspect interviews as well as the countless interviews investigators conduct with victims of and witnesses to crimes.
