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Unit for Experimental Psychiatry
Faculty
Siobhan Banks, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, Department of Psychiatry
Siobhan Banks, Ph.D. is a Research Assistant Professor in Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Dr Banks received her degree in Psychology from the University of South Australia and Ph.D. in Sleep Medicine from Flinders University of South Australia. Dr Banks trained at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, Repatriation General Hospital, Australia before moving to the United States to pursue her research interests in the neurobehavioral consequences of sleep loss. Initially a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. David Dinges’ laboratory she has recently joined the faculty as Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry.
The effect of sleep loss on neurobehavioral and cognitive functioning is Dr Banks’ primary research interest. While she typically uses experimental protocols to deprive individuals of sleep, Dr Banks is also interested in the consequences of sleep loss from sleep disorders and psychiatric complaints. At the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health she became skilled in the use of the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (a physiological test of daytime sleepiness) and has investigated this test extensively in sleep apnea patients and sleep restricted subjects. She has published several papers recently on the validity of the test (i.e. relationship to driving simulator performance) and its usefulness as a measure of sleepiness in the experimental setting. Dr Banks’ more recent research has focused on recovery from sleep loss. She is currently running several large laboratory protocols to develop dose-response functions for varying durations of recovery sleep after chronic sleep restriction funded by the NIH and NASA NSBRI. This study will provide valuable information on the amount of recovery sleep needed to ensure healthy neurobehavioral function.
Dr. Banks is a member of the Australasian Sleep Association, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, the (US) Sleep Research Society, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Research Interests
Sleep loss, neurobehavioral performance, maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT), micro-sleeps, driving simulator performance, daytime sleepiness, individual differences, sleep structure and regulation, sleep inertia, habitual sleep time, neurocognitive consequences of sleep apnea.
Selected Bibliography
Banks, S., Barnes, M., Tarquinio, N., Lack, L.C., Pierce, R. & McEvoy, R.D.: Factors associated with the maintenance of wakefulness test in patients with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnoea and normal subjects. Journal of Sleep Research. 13(1):71-8, 2004
Banks, S., Barnes, M., Tarquinio, N., Lack, L.C., Pierce, R. & McEvoy, R.D.: Normal maintenance of wakefulness test results in normal, healthy subjects. Sleep. 27(4) 799-802, 2004
Barnes, M., McEvoy, R. D., Banks, S., Tarquinio, N., Murray, C. G., Vowles, N. & Pierce, R. J.: Morbidity and efficacy of treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure and mandibular advancement splint in mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 170(6)656-664, 2004
Banks, S., Catcheside, P., Lack, L.C., Grunstein, R. & McEvoy, R. D.: Low Levels of Alcohol Impair Driving Simulator Performance and Reduce Perception of Crash Risk in Sleep Restricted Subjects. Sleep. 27(6)1063-1067, 2004
Banks, S., Catcheside, P., Lack, L.C., Grunstein, R. & McEvoy R. D.: The maintenance of wakefulness test and driving simulator performance. Sleep. 28(11)1381-1385, 2005
Banks, S., Dinges, D. F.: Is the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test Sensitive to Varying Amounts of Recovery Sleep after Chronic Sleep Restriction? Sleep, 28 (Abstract Supplement): A136, 2005
Banks, S., Van Dongen, H., Dinges, D. F.: How Much Sleep is Needed to Recover from Sleep Debt? The Impact of Sleep Dose on Recovery. Sleep. 28. (Abstract Supplement): A138, 2005