Siffres Research

Question 1

What was his aim?

Answer 1

Discover how the natural rhythms of human life would be affected by living “beyond” time

Question 2

What did he do in 1962?

Answer 2

Did a pilot study for 2 months then an actual experiment for 6 months
The lights came on when he woke and went off when he slept

Question 3

What were his findings

Answer 3

Sleep/wake cycle of 25-30 hours
Sleep/wake cycle became desynchronised

Question 4

Weakness?

Answer 4

Case study so cant generalise findings
Small sample size- only him!!
Confirmation bias- no one to check his findings

Question 5

Aschoff and Weaver?

Answer 5

Similar study
Placed in a bunker for 4 weeks with no natural light
Sleep/wake cycle of 25-27 hours

Question 6

Czeisler et al (1999)?

Answer 6

Using bright lights was artificial so they used low light conditions which resulted in a circadian rhythm of 24 hours 11 minutes

Question 7

Folkard et al (1985)?

Answer 7

12 ppts from natural light for 3 weeks in a dark cave
Sped up the clocks- believed 24 hours had passed
None of the ppts could adjust comfortably- showing the strength of endogenous pacemakers and questioning the extent to which the sleep/wake cycle can be overridden by exogenous zeitgebers