
I was afraid of this.
Scientists using functional MRI machines can see your decisions approximately twelve hours before you make them. Preliminary studies indicate that your brain “banks” decisions during REM sleep and then spends them down during the course of waking hours. This suggests that extended periods of wakefulness can lead to decision deprivation and, eventually, decision debt.
This probably has dire implications for free will, but might be pretty awesome for the sleepers’ rights movement.
Link to article in the journal N4ture. Warning: Paywall
Photo CC-NC-BY-SA jpstanley