U.S. researchers have linked moderate sleep deprivation to potentially devastating errors.

Todd Maddox and David Schnyer, psychology professors at the University of Texas at Austin, found moderate sleep deprivation can lead to an overall immediate short-term loss of information-integration -- a process of information categorization that enables people to make accurate, split-second "gut" decisions.

"It's important to understand this domain of procedural learning because information-integration -- the fast and accurate strategy -- is critical in situations when solders need to make split-second decisions about whether a potential target is an enemy soldier, a civilian or one of their own," Maddox said in a statement.

The study looked at information-integration tasks performed by 49 cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point over the course of two days with the participants performing the tasks twice. Twenty-one cadets were placed in a sleep deprivation group and 28 well-rested participants were designated as controls.

The study, published in the journal Sleep, found moderate sleep deprivation can lead to an overall immediate short-term loss of information-integration thought processes.

Maddox and Schnyer said they were surprised to find the adverse effects of sleep deprivation on information processing varied among individuals. Schnyer believes this finding has implications for training purposes for high-pressure, life-and-death jobs, particularly in the military.