The Effects of Total Sleep Deprivation and Recovery Sleep on Cognitive Performance and Brain Function

An ever-increasing number of military personnel and civilians alike must work daily without adequate sleep. Although considerable data show that sleep deprivation alters many aspects of behavior, little is known about changes in the brain substrate underlying the behavioral effects, and even less is known about the cerebral effects of recovery sleep. The overarching objective of this study is to investigate the effects of 2 full nights of sleep loss 66 hours total and 2 full nights of recovery sleep on cognitive performance and brain function. The authors studied 40 individuals for 6 nights and 6 days. Over the course of this period, subjects received 4 polysomnograms and 10 functional magnetic resonance imaging FMRI sessions. During the FMRI sessions, functional brain imaging data were collected while subjects performed each of three cognitive tasks. These data provide a rich amount of information concerning the effects of prolonged total sleep deprivation and recovery sleep on cognitive performance and the cerebral underpinnings of that performance. The initial manuscripts from this study have shown the following 1 the course of deterioration and recovery in cognitive inhibitory processes, 2 changes during sleep deprivation in brain networks responsible for new learning, 3 changes in risk taking during sleep deprivation, and 4 the specific components of working memory impaired by sleep deprivation and individual differences in vulnerability to working memory deficits during sleep deprivation.