Compromised Perception-action Coupling Performance In Military Personnel May Be Related To Increased Deep Sleep

Abstract

Operational stressors, such as caloric and sleep restriction and physical fatigue, may compromise perception-action coupling, the cooperative function of the sensory and motor systems, in military personnel. Prior sleep may protect against performance decrements and different sleep stages may conserve different aspects of performance. PURPOSE: To investigate changes in perception-action coupling during simulated military operational stress and understand the role of sleep stages on performance. METHODS: As part of a 5-day study assessing resilience to simulated military operational stress, thirty-three (6 female) active duty and reserve status service members (25.8 ± 4.7 years) completed three trials of a novel perception-action coupling task (PACT) at 1700 after a night of baseline sleep (BASE), two nights of sleep restriction (T1) and a night of recovery sleep (T2). Participants had 8-hr for baseline and recovery sleep (2300-0700) and 4-hr disturbed sleep on intervention nights (0100-0300 and 0500-0700). Polysomnography was used to identify sleep stages. The tablet-based PACT requires participants make quick, accurate perceptual judgments and responses about whether varying sized virtual balls fit through virtual apertures. Outcomes of interest included response time (RT) and accuracy (ACC). Percent time in stage 2 (N2), slow wave (SWS) and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep were median split to form high (more sleep in a stage) and low sleep groups. Differences in PACT performance between sleep groups across time were assessed using multiple mixed model (2 x 3) ANOVA. RESULTS: No significant sleep group x time interaction or main effect of time were found for RT or ACC. A significant main effect of SWS sleep group was found for RT (F1,31 = 4.898, p = .034, n2p = .136). The high SWS group had slower (worse) RT than the low SWS group (.886 ± .023 vs .814 ± .024 s). No other significant main effects of sleep group were found. CONCLUSION: Perception-action coupling was maintained during simulated military operational stress. Participants with more baseline SWS had worse PACT performance but other sleep stages, N2 and REM, did not relate to perception-action coupling. This suggests a specific effect of SWS, which is deep sleep, on perception-action coupling abilities and behaviors. Supported by DOD # W81XWH-17-2-0070