AP Psychology: Sleep (Drill 5)

Question 1. A college student reports that right before falling asleep each night, she sometimes experiences vivid, dreamlike images and the sensation of falling. These experiences occur only during the transition from wakefulness to sleep. What term describes these experiences?

• A) Night terrors, which are episodes of intense fear occurring during deep NREM sleep
• B) Hypnagogic hallucinations, which are sensory experiences occurring in the transition from wakefulness to sleep ✓
• C) Nightmares, which are distressing dreams occurring primarily during REM sleep
• D) Microsleep episodes, which are brief, involuntary lapses of consciousness during chronic sleep deprivation in the situation described

Explanation: Hypnagogic hallucinations occur specifically during the hypnagogic state, the transition between wakefulness and sleep onset, and commonly include visual imagery and physical sensations such as falling. The student's experiences fit this description precisely: they occur during the transition and not during established sleep. (A) is the most likely wrong answer for a student who did not study carefully: night terrors involve sudden arousal from slow-wave sleep with behavioral signs like screaming and disorientation, not brief perceptual experiences at sleep onset. (C) is accurate about nightmares; they do occur during REM sleep, but nightmares are distressing dream experiences during established sleep, not sensory events at the wakefulness-to-sleep boundary. [Practice 1]

Question 2. Researchers compare two groups of participants: Group A sleeps a full eight hours after studying a list of paired associates, while Group B stays awake for eight hours after studying the same list. Both groups are tested 24 hours after initial learning. Group A scores higher on the recall test. What does this finding most directly support?

• A) Group B was less motivated to study because they knew they would stay awake.
• B) Sleep selectively consolidates procedural memories more than declarative memories.
• C) Sleep plays a role in memory consolidation, helping stabilize newly encoded information. ✓
• D) Group A's better performance was caused by the passage of time rather than sleep itself.

Explanation: The experimental design, randomly assigned sleep versus wake conditions with equal time intervals, isolates sleep as the variable of interest. Group A's superior recall directly supports the hypothesis that sleep aids in consolidating newly encoded declarative memories. (D) is the most tempting wrong answer: time did elapse equally for both groups, but equal elapsed time is the control condition, designed precisely to isolate sleep's contribution. The fact that time was held constant makes it stronger evidence for sleep, not weaker. (B) gets the direction wrong: the paired-associates task is a declarative memory task, and sleep benefits declarative memory, so framing the conclusion around procedural memory is both inaccurate and beside the point. [Practice 2]

Question 3. A sleep researcher records EEG data and observes that a participant's brain waves have shifted from predominantly theta waves to large, slow delta waves. The participant's muscles are at their most relaxed, and the researcher notes that it is very difficult to rouse the participant. Which sleep stage is the participant most likely in?

• A) Stage 1 NREM, characterized by the transition from alpha to theta waves and light sleep
• B) Stage 2 NREM, characterized by sleep spindles and K-complexes
• C) REM sleep, characterized by brain wave activity similar to the waking state
• D) Stage 3 NREM (slow-wave sleep), characterized by delta waves and the deepest sleep ✓

Explanation: Stage 3 NREM, also called slow-wave sleep, is defined by the predominance of delta waves, the deepest arousal threshold, and the greatest muscle relaxation. The shift to delta waves and the difficulty rousing the participant are the defining markers of this stage. (C) is a common student error: the deep unresponsiveness here might seem like it fits REM, but REM is characterized by high-frequency brain activity resembling the waking state, essentially the opposite of the delta pattern described. (B) is accurate about Stage 2 features, but sleep spindles and K-complexes appear before the shift to predominantly delta activity that defines Stage 3. [Practice 1]

Question 4. A sleep clinic evaluates 200 patients who report excessive daytime sleepiness. The data below show average nightly sleep and mean daytime sleepiness scores (higher = more impairment): Average nightly sleep | Mean daytime sleepiness score Less than 5 hours | 78 5-6 hours | 61 6-7 hours | 44 7-8 hours | 29 More than 8 hours | 31 Which conclusion is best supported by these data?

• A) Sleeping more than eight hours causes greater daytime impairment than sleeping seven to eight hours.
• B) There is a perfectly linear relationship between sleep duration and daytime sleepiness.
• C) Reduced sleep duration is associated with greater daytime sleepiness, though the relationship is not perfectly linear, especially at the highest sleep durations. ✓
• D) Because patients sleeping under five hours score roughly twice as high as those sleeping seven to eight hours, sleep deprivation has been shown to cause cognitive impairment.

Explanation: The data show a consistent pattern: daytime sleepiness scores rise as sleep duration decreases. However, the relationship is not perfectly linear, scores at more than 8 hours (31) and 7-8 hours (29) are nearly identical, indicating the trend levels off at the high end. (C) describes both features accurately. (B) is directly contradicted by the data at those two highest categories. (D) contains a numerically accurate observation, but drawing a causal conclusion from observational clinic data is precisely the error the item tests, this choice is designed to catch students who see a tempting pattern and overreach. (A) reverses the direction of the finding at the high end: the more-than-8-hour group does not show meaningfully greater impairment than the 7-8-hour group. [Practice 3]

Question 5. A patient with chronic difficulty falling asleep, frequent nighttime awakenings, and daytime fatigue is referred to a sleep specialist. The specialist recommends a non-drug treatment that involves maintaining a fixed wake time, limiting time in bed to actual sleep time, and reserving the bed for sleep only. The patient asks whether medication would work better. Which of the following most accurately describes what research shows about this type of treatment?

• A) It produces short-term benefits similar to sleep medication but offers no long-term advantage over medication.
• B) Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which includes the techniques described, is an effective treatment for chronic insomnia and tends to produce more durable improvements than medication alone. ✓
• C) Drug treatment is generally preferred for chronic insomnia because non-drug approaches require a specialist and are not widely accessible.
• D) Sleep restriction helps only when insomnia is caused by an anxiety disorder; it is not effective for primary insomnia.

Explanation: The techniques described, fixed wake time, sleep restriction, and stimulus control, are the core components of CBT-I. Research shows CBT-I is an effective treatment for chronic insomnia, and its benefits tend to last longer than those of medication, which often diminish when the drug is discontinued. This item also connects sleep content to broader health psychology themes. (A) is accurate as far as it goes; CBT-I does match medication for short-term gains, but stopping there omits the long-term durability that makes CBT-I the stronger approach, which is exactly what the question asks about. (D) overstates a limitation that does not exist: CBT-I is effective for chronic insomnia broadly, not only when anxiety is the underlying cause. [Practice 2]