Gee, ya think?

A new study from an Iowa State University professor discovered that lack of sleep hinders criminals' ability to recall key information in interrogations. And in other news, the sky is blue.

But seriously, Radio Iowa reports that ISU psychology professor Zlatan Krizan gathered data from about 140 volunteers for the study. Half got a good night's sleep, the other half...didn't, and he went from there. In total, the ones with less sleep recalled about 7 percent fewer pieces of critical information when being questioned by police.

Participants in the study were asked to disclose past criminal activity ranging from transporting fireworks, trespassing, and shoplifting. They were then questioned about the most severe crimes like underage drinking, experimenting with illegal drugs, and driving under the influence.

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Those with less sleep were "less motivated" or found it more difficult to recall information, much like any human who is sleep-deprived and not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing. So, now if the insanity defense or old self-defense pleas don't work, just say you couldn't sleep. In fairness, the study applied to criminals and potential witnesses.

The FBI provided a grant for this research and Krizan's findings are published in the academic journal SLEEP. He opines that in most interrogations it's about getting accurate information and not pressuring for a confession but who doesn't think that those in a position to confess a crime won't use this knowledge to their advantage, especially since a whole bunch of criminal activity happens mostly late at night?

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