Abstract
The negative impact of sleep loss on procedural memory is well established, yet it remains unclear how extended practice opportunities or daytime naps can modulate the effect of a night of sleep deprivation. Here, participants underwent three training and test conditions on a sequential finger tapping task (SFTT) separated by at least one week. In the first condition they were trained in the evening followed by a night of sleep. Two further conditions took place where evening training was followed by a night of total sleep deprivation (TSD). One of the TSD conditions included a one-hour nap opportunity (15:00). Compared to the condition in which sleep was permitted, a night of TSD resulted in poorer performance across 4 practices the following day (10:00–19:00). The deleterious effect of a single night of TSD on procedural performance, was neither clearly alleviated by an afternoon nap nor by multiple practice opportunities. Interestingly, significant gains in performance were observed in all conditions after a one-week delay. Recovery sleep on subsequent nights thus appeared to nullify the effect of a single night of sleep deprivation, underscoring the importance of offline consolidation on the acquisition of procedural skill.
Highlights
The negative impact of sleep loss on procedural memory is well established, yet it remains unclear how extended practice opportunities or daytime naps can modulate the effect of a night of sleep deprivation
In the second and third conditions, participants underwent a night of total sleep deprivation (TSD) supervised by a research assistant
Consistent with previous findings7,16,17, we found that a single night of total sleep deprivation (TSD) impaired procedural task performance the following day
Summary
The negative impact of sleep loss on procedural memory is well established, yet it remains unclear how extended practice opportunities or daytime naps can modulate the effect of a night of sleep deprivation. The acquisition and consolidation of procedural skills has been studied extensively using the sequential finger tapping task (SFTT), an explicit motor sequence learning (MSL) task that measures the speed and accuracy of repeatedly performing a short sequence of finger movements. The acquisition and consolidation of procedural skills has been studied extensively using the sequential finger tapping task (SFTT), an explicit motor sequence learning (MSL) task that measures the speed and accuracy of repeatedly performing a short sequence of finger movements4,5 This type of learning progresses primarily via repeated practice, but delayed offline gains occur following nocturnal sleep or a daytime nap. The aforesaid MSL studies typically incorporate a training period prior to a sleep or wake retention interval, followed by testing to gauge sleep-dependent gains in performance8 These post-retention tests are typically very short, to facilitate the assessment of consolidation in a manner that minimizes the possible contribution of repeated practice, fatigue or reaching a ceiling in performance. A recent study suggested that a week of recovery sleep after a night of sleep deprivation may facilitate recovery from impairment in MSL performance through delayed memory consolidation
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