Sleep deprivation has adverse consequences for a variety of cognitive functions. The exact effects of sleep deprivation,\nthough, are dependent upon the cognitive process examined. Within working memory, for example, some component\nprocesses are more vulnerable to sleep deprivation than others. Additionally, the differential impacts on cognition of\ndifferent types of sleep deprivation have not been well studied. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of one\nnight of total sleep deprivation and 4 nights of partial sleep deprivation (4 hours in bed/night) on two components of visual\nworking memory: capacity and filtering efficiency. Forty-four healthy young adults were randomly assigned to one of the\ntwo sleep deprivation conditions. All participants were studied: 1) in a well-rested condition (following 6 nights of 9 hours in\nbed/night); and 2) following sleep deprivation, in a counter-balanced order. Visual working memory testing consisted of two\nrelated tasks. The first measured visual working memory capacity and the second measured the ability to ignore distractor\nstimuli in a visual scene (filtering efficiency). Results showed neither type of sleep deprivation reduced visual working\nmemory capacity. Partial sleep deprivation also generally did not change filtering efficiency. Total sleep deprivation, on the\nother hand, did impair performance in the filtering task. These results suggest components of visual working memory are\ndifferentially vulnerable to the effects of sleep deprivation, and different types of sleep deprivation impact visual working\nmemory to different degrees. Such findings have implications for operational settings where individuals may need to\nperform with inadequate sleep and whose jobs involve receiving an array of visual information and discriminating the\nrelevant from the irrelevant prior to making decisions or taking actions (e.g., baggage screeners, air traffic controllers,\nmilitary personnel, health care providers).
Loading....