Abstract
Individuals with partial sleep deprivation may have working memory (WM) impairment, but the underlying neural mechanism of this phenomenon is relatively unknown. The present study examined neural processing during WM performance in individuals with and without partial sleep deprivation using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Forty college students (10 males) were equally split into Sufficient Sleep (SS) and Insufficient Sleep (IS) groups based on self-reports of previous night's sleep duration. Participants in the SS group obtained the recommended amounts of sleep according to various sleep organizations (i.e., >7.0 h), whereas those in the IS group obtained amounts of sleep no greater than the lower limit of the recommendation (i.e., ≤7.0 h). All participants underwent an n-back paradigm with a WM load (i.e., 3-back) and a control condition (i.e., 0-back) while their prefrontal hemodynamics were recorded by NIRS. The IS and SS groups performed the tasks comparably well. However, unlike the SS group, which exhibited bilateral frontal activation indicated by increased oxyhemoglobin concentration and decreased deoxyhemoglobin concentration during WM processing (i.e., 3-back > 0-back), the IS group did not exhibit such activation. In addition, levels of WM-related frontal activation, especially those on the left side, correlated with sleep duration the night before, even when habitual sleep duration was controlled for. The findings suggest the presence of frontal lobe dysfunction in the absence of evident WM difficulties in individuals with acute partial sleep deprivation. They also highlight the importance of a good night's sleep to brain health.
Highlights
A substantial number of studies have shown that partial sleep deprivation is very common in the daily life of adults in modern society (Lund et al, 2010; National Sleep Foundation, 2013; Vargas et al, 2014; Quick et al, 2016)
The sleep duration the night before was significantly shorter than the habitual sleep duration in the Insufficient Sleep (IS) group, t(19) = 5.30, p < 0.001, but the two sleep durations were statistically comparable in the Sufficient Sleep (SS) group, t(19) = −1.34, p = 0.20
We examined working memory (WM)-related frontal activation (i.e., 3back > 0-back) in individuals who obtained amounts of sleep no greater than the lower limit of the sleep durations recommended by sleep organizations and compared it with corresponding measurements from those who obtained the recommended amount of sleep on the previous night
Summary
A substantial number of studies have shown that partial sleep deprivation is very common in the daily life of adults in modern society (Lund et al, 2010; National Sleep Foundation, 2013; Vargas et al, 2014; Quick et al, 2016). Some studies have estimated that 25–41% of college students (i.e., a subgroup of adults) obtain less than the amount of sleep recommended by sleep organizations every night (Lund et al, 2010; Vargas et al, 2014; Quick et al, 2016) Given such a high prevalence of sleep restriction in the population, it is important to know whether individuals who do not obtain the recommended amounts of sleep (i.e., those who obtain insufficient sleep) exhibit cognitive and neural dysfunction compared with those who obtain the recommended amounts of sleep (i.e., sufficient sleep) at night. It appears that individuals who experience sleep deprivation may exhibit WM deficits compared with those having sufficient sleep and that the severity of WM impairment increases with that of sleep deprivation
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