Physiological Influences upon the Work Performance of Men and Women

The synthetic-work methodology of the Multiple Task Performance Battery (MTPB) was employed in a series of studies designed to determine the effects of 48 hours of continuous work and sleep loss on the work performance of four groups of female subjects and one group of male subjects. The specific female groups were defined in the design by a factorial combination of the phase of the menstrual cycle at the beginning of the sleep-loss period (i.e., Menstrual vsMid-Cycle) and whether or not the subjects were using contraceptive pills (i.e., Pill vs Normally Cycling). The performances of these four groups of female subjects were compared with those of a group of male subjects who performed the tasks of the MTPB under identical conditions; comparisons were performed during training, during a baseline period, during the sleep-loss, continuous-work period, and during a post-recovery period. An extension of these studies subsequently compared the performances of two groups of female subjects (i.e., Normally Cycling and Pill) for an additional five weeks under normal work conditions; the purpose of this extension was to assess the effects of the phases of the menstrual cycle on work performance.