At the Brock University Sleep Research Laboratory, we study “sleep, performance, and cognition”. The broad purpose of this research program is to understand the role of sleep in our waking lives.

The research laboratory was founded by Dr. Robert Ogilvie in 1971, and has been directed by Dr. Kimberly Cote since 2000. The facility includes three bedrooms off of a main sleep recording room, a washroom, a computer analysis room and a kitchen/lounge area. The Sleep Laboratory has been designed specifically for 24-hour monitoring of electrophysiology and human performance.

Some of the things we study include the impact of sleep deprivation and restriction on cognitive performance and emotion perception; the role of hormones in vulnerability to sleep loss; memory consolidation in sleep; the benefits of napping in young and older adults; and, mechanisms and consequences of insomnia. Further we study basic mechanisms of sleep such as spindles and k-complexes, electrophysiological correlates of consciousness, and individual differences in response to sleep loss.

Research at the Brock University Sleep Research Laboratory is currently funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (N.S.E.R.C).