Sid is taking part in research on the effects of sleep deprivation; he has been without sleep for 75 hours. Right now researchers have asked him to sit in front of a computer screen and hit a button each time he sees the letter "S" on the screen. A few days ago, Sid was a whiz at this task; however, he is doing very poorly today. How would sleep researchers explain Sid's poor performance?a) Due to the sleep deprivation, Sid does not understand the task.b) Microsleeps are occurring due to the sleep deprivation and he is asleep for brief periods of time.c) He is determined to ruin the research because of the suffering he is enduring at the hands of the researchers.d) He is probably dreaming that he is somewhere else and has no interest in responding to the "here and now."

Sleep deprivation refers to the lack of sleep (not having enough sleep). It can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, difficulty to concentrate in activities and it has an effect on cognitive abilities.

As the sleep deprivation increases, so do their effects. After 3 days of sleep deprivation, concentration and perception are severely affected.

In this question, Sid hasn't slept for 75 hours and he needs to hit a button each time he sees the letter S on the screen. Considering that this sleep deprivation has had an effect on his ability to concentrate and perception, we can assume that he might having microsleeps due to the deprivation and he falls asleep for brief periods of time.

He doesn't have the will necessary to "ruin" the research and he's not dreaming that he is somewhere else since he is technically awake. We cannot say that he didn't understand the task because he already made it a few days ago.

That's why the correct answer would be b)