No increased tendencies for money-incentivized cheating after 24-hr total sleep deprivation.

Abstract

Are we more likely to cheat when our cognitive resources are depleted? Current psychological and neuroeconomic theories offer opposing accounts of dishonest behaviors under low cognitive control conditions: while the former predicts increased cheating tendencies, the latter predicts otherwise. In this study, following 24-hr total sleep deprivation, participants engaged in a die-rolling experiment where they could easily misreport their dice throws (i.e., cheat) to receive higher monetary gains. Our results showed that while there was no greater tendency to cheat in a sleep-deprived state, either in favor of self or others, compared to a rested state, cheating was still observed. This indicated that the relationship between dishonesty and cognitive control is more nuanced than what prevailing theories suggest. We discuss this null effect in relation to recent literature about cognitive control and dishonesty and provide alternative explanations for our findings.