Catch some sleep to avoid errors in memory

A new study has revealed that people who get less sleep might be hurting their memory.

Researchers at Michigan State University and the University of California, Irvine found that distorted memory could have serious consequences in areas such as criminal justice, where eyewitness misidentifications are thought to be the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called insufficient sleep an epidemic and said it was linked to vehicle crashes, industrial disasters and chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.

Kimberly Fenn, MSU, said that people who repeatedly get low amounts of sleep every night could be more prone in the long run to develop these forms of memory distortion and it was not just a full night of sleep deprivation that puts them at risk.

The study is published online in the journal Psychological Science.