Impact of Sleep Loss on Creativity and STEM Learning for First-Year College Students

More than half of all college students are habitually sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation is known to have powerful, detrimental effects generally on brain functioning, yet the extent of its specific effects on mental activity is unknown. This project, led by researchers at Baylor University, will bring together a collaborative team of sleep scientists, educators, cognitive neuroscientists, and statisticians to address theoretical and applied issues at the nexus of sleep, creativity, and STEM learning, especially those concerning whether such prolific sleep loss in students thwarts efforts to foster creativity and STEM learning. Existing theoretical frameworks posit that creative ability is not firmly set, but instead can fluctuate dynamically across hours, days, and weeks. Investigating the brain processes underlying these fluctuations in creativity, in relation to sleeping patterns and success and retention in STEM, will not only provide crucial information from a theoretical perspective, but can also provide a foundation for the development of future educational interventions. Therefore, the study findings will be disseminated broadly, in scientific as well as in formal and informal educational settings. The Project will include a collaboration with a local museum in hosting pop-up exhibits each year to disseminate the findings directly to students, parents, and teachers. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning and broadening participation in STEM fields.

This project will empirically investigate the interplay of sleep, creativity, and learning outcomes. A large sample of college students in a STEM major will complete a battery of tests assessing creativity, fluid intelligence, sleep habits, and science-concept learning. Structural equation modeling will assess the degree to which sleep habits and creativity have a causal influence on science-concept learning, independent of fluid intelligence. A subset of this larger sample will complete a two-phase polysomnography-monitored, cross-over experiment in which they will sleep normally and undergo multi-night sleep restriction (order counterbalanced). At the end of each phase, participants will undergo neuroimaging while performing tests of creativity, attention, and encoding. The psychometric, polysomnographic, and neuroimaging data will then be utilized to investigate longitudinal relations with STEM achievement and retention.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.