Total Sleep Deprivation Impairs Lateralization of Spatial Working Memory in Young Men

Ziyi Peng,Xiaoping Cai,Haiteng Wang,Lingjing Zeng,Yi Wang,Yongcong Shao,Songyue Xie,Jialu Li,Tianyi Yang,Cimin Dai

doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.562035

Abstract

Total sleep deprivation (TSD) negatively affects cognitive function. Previous research has focused on individual variation in cognitive function following TSD, but we know less about how TSD influences the lateralization of spatial working memory. This study used event-related-potential techniques to explore asymmetry in spatial-working-memory impairment. Fourteen healthy male participants performed a two-back task with electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings conducted at baseline and after 36 h of TSD. We selected 12 EEG points corresponding to left and right sides of the brain and then observed changes in N2 and P3 components related to spatial working memory. Before TSD, P3 amplitude differed significantly between the left and right sides of the brain. This difference disappeared after TSD. Compared with baseline, P3 amplitude decreased for a duration as extended as the prolonged latency of N2 components. After 36 h of TSD, P3 amplitude decreased more in the right hemisphere than the left. We therefore conclude that TSD negatively affected spatial working memory, possibly through removing the right hemisphere advantage.

Highlights

Sleep quality and time spent sleeping have decreased gradually with increasing social pressure and acceleration of life pace in recent years; sleep loss negatively affects productivity and sleep disturbance can lead to various diseases
The mean reaction time was longer at 36-h Total sleep deprivation (TSD) than at baseline (ANOVA, F[1,13] = 1.038, P = 0.327), but the difference was not significant
Our research showed that sleep deprivation impaired spatial working memory, damaging lateralization

Summary

Introduction

Sleep quality and time spent sleeping have decreased gradually with increasing social pressure and acceleration of life pace in recent years; sleep loss negatively affects productivity and sleep disturbance can lead to various diseases. Total sleep deprivation (TSD) damages brain function, leading to deficits in alertness, attention, and working memory (Durmer and Dinges, 2005; Lim and Dinges, 2010; Basner et al, 2013). Post-TSD decreases in short-term memory are associated with abnormal functional connections between the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex (Li et al, 2016). After TSD, participant responses to working memory tasks were significantly slower (Gujar et al, 2010). Positive activation of the medial parietal cortex was significantly reduced, negative activation of the anterior medial frontal lobe and posterior cingulate decreased, while activation of left dorsal lateral prefrontal and bilateral thalamus increased (Gujar et al, 2010). Total sleep deprivation causes declines in learning and memory (Kusztor et al, 2019)

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