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Improving Accuracy of Sleep Self-Reports Through Correspondence Training

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Abstract

Sleep insufficiency is a major public health concern, yet the accuracy of selfreported sleep measures is often poor. Self-report may be useful when direct measurement of nonverbal behavior is impossible, infeasible, or undesirable, as it may be with sleep measurement. We used feedback and positive reinforcement within a small-n multiple-baseline design to improve the accuracy with which young adults reported the amount of time they spent awake during sleep hours. Feedback and contingent money resulted in improved accuracy of self-reports but no change in overall time spent awake.

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Correspondence to Claire C. St. Peter.

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St. Peter, C.C., Montgomery-Downs, H.E. & Massullo, J.P. Improving Accuracy of Sleep Self-Reports Through Correspondence Training. Psychol Rec 62, 623–630 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395824

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