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熬夜之后反应变慢、容易出错，这一点很多人都有体会。但德国奥托·冯·居里克大学马格德堡的心理学家发现，问题可能更进一步：人们在整夜不睡后，不仅犯错更多，还更难察觉自己犯了错。这项研究于 10 月 24 日发表在睡眠研究期刊 SLEEP 上。30 名健康成年人相隔一周两次完成同一项像游戏一样的按键任务，一次睡眠正常，一次已连续清醒约 24 小时；每次按键后，他们还要判断自己刚才是否按对。据研究团队 3 月公开的早期版本，熬夜后的错误率从约 9% 升至约 12%，而且这些问题在任务后段更明显。研究还发现，人们出错后是否放慢、调整，主要取决于自己“以为”有没有出错；没有察觉的错误之后，表现往往更差。研究者也提醒，这是小规模的实验室测试，测的是整夜不睡，结果不能直接套用到普通的少睡一晚或现实生活。阅读时可留意文章如何用 not only… but also、More importantly、In other words 推进论证，并用 may、seems、suggests 交代结论的边界。

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Most people know that a sleepless night can make them slow and careless. A new study suggests that the problem goes one step further. After a night without sleep, people not only made more mistakes but also noticed fewer of them. The study, by psychologists at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg in Germany, was published in the journal SLEEP on 24 October.

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大多数人都知道，一夜不睡会让人反应变慢、粗心大意。一项新研究表明，问题还不止于此：一夜没睡之后，人们不仅犯了更多错误，而且察觉到的错误也更少。这项研究由德国奥托·冯·居里克大学马格德堡的心理学家完成，于 10 月 24 日发表在期刊 SLEEP 上。

The team worked with 30 healthy adults. Each person did the same computer task twice, one week apart: once after a normal night’s sleep, and once after staying awake for about 24 hours. Half of the group began with the tired session, so the order would not affect the results.

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研究团队招募了 30 名健康成年人。每个人相隔一周两次完成同一项电脑任务：一次是在正常睡了一晚之后，另一次是在连续清醒约 24 小时之后。一半参与者先进行熬夜后的那次测试，这样先后顺序就不会影响结果。

The task looked like a simple game, but it had several rules. Players pressed a button according to the colour of a circle on a screen. Some colour patterns, however, required a different button, so it was easy to slip. After every answer, players also had to say whether they thought they had got it right. This allowed the researchers to compare what people actually did with what they believed they had done.

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这项任务看起来像一个简单的游戏，但有好几条规则。玩家要根据屏幕上圆圈的颜色按下按钮。然而，某些颜色组合要求按另一个按钮，所以很容易按错。每次作答之后，玩家还要说出自己认为刚才是否答对了。这样，研究人员就能把人们实际的表现与他们自以为的表现进行比较。

Without sleep, people answered more slowly and made more errors. In an earlier version of the paper shared online in March, the error rate rose from about 9 percent to about 12 percent. More importantly, the tired players noticed a smaller share of their own mistakes. These problems were small at the start of the task but grew as their attention became less steady.

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没有睡觉时，人们作答更慢，出错也更多。在 3 月于网上公开的早期论文版本中，错误率从约 9% 上升到约 12%。更重要的是，疲惫的玩家察觉到的自身错误所占比例更小。这些问题在任务开始时并不明显，但随着他们的注意力变得越来越不稳定而逐渐加重。

The study also showed why noticing matters. People usually slowed down after a mistake, which can help them be more careful. But this slowing depended mainly on whether they believed they had made an error, not on whether they really had. When an error went unnoticed, their next answers tended to get worse rather than better.

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研究还说明了为什么“察觉”很重要。人们在犯错后通常会放慢速度，这有助于他们更加小心。但这种放慢主要取决于他们是否认为自己出了错，而不是他们是否真的出了错。当一个错误没有被察觉时，他们接下来的作答往往会变得更糟，而不是更好。

In other words, the mind seems to have an inner alarm that tells us to stop and check. The researchers say that losing a night’s sleep weakens both this alarm and the way people use it to correct their behaviour.

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换句话说，人的大脑似乎有一种内在的警报，提醒我们停下来检查一下。研究人员表示，缺少一夜睡眠既会削弱这种警报，也会削弱人们利用它来纠正自身行为的能力。

The researchers note that their task was a laboratory test, so the results should be applied to real life with care. The study was also small, and it tested a full night without sleep, not an ordinary short night. Still, it suggests that feeling sure of yourself after a sleepless night may not be a reliable sign that you are doing well.

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研究人员指出，他们的任务是一项实验室测试，因此把结果用于现实生活时应当谨慎。这项研究的规模也较小，而且测试的是整夜不睡，而不是普通的睡得少一些的一晚。尽管如此，研究提示，在一夜没睡之后觉得自己状态没问题，未必是你确实表现良好的可靠信号。

新闻来源

• SLEEP (Oxford Academic) · Sleep deprivation disrupts error awareness and subsequent behavioural regulation (24 Oct 2026)
• bioRxiv · Sleep deprivation disrupts error awareness and subsequent behavioural regulation, preprint (5 Mar 2026)

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