Sleep deprivation enhances inter-stimulus interval effect on vigilant attention performance

Abstract

Study Objective: Sleep deprivation significantly reduces the ability to maintain a consistent alertness level and impairs vigilant attention. Previous studies have shown that longer inter-stimulus interval (ISI) are associated with faster reaction times (RTs) on the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT). However, whether and how sleep deprivation interacts with this ISI effect remains unclear. Methods: N = 70 healthy adults (age range 20-50 years, 41 males) participated in a 5-day and 4-night in-laboratory controlled sleep deprivation study, including N = 54 in the experimental group with one night of total sleep deprivation and N = 16 in the control group without sleep loss. All participants completed a neurobehavioral test battery every 2 hours while awake, including a 10-minute standard PVT (PVT-S, N = 1626) and a 3-minute brief PVT (PVT-B, N = 1622). The linear approach to threshold with ergodic rate (LATER) model was used to fit the RT data. Results: RT decreased significantly with longer ISI on the PVT-S and PVT-B. Increased ISI effect was found for both PVT-S and PVT-B during sleep deprivation compared to baseline or recovery sleep in the experimental group, whereas no differences in the ISI effect were found in the control group. The LATER model fitting indicated that changes in perceptual sensitivity rather than threshold adjustment may underlie the ISI effect. Conclusions: Both standard and brief PVT showed a similar ISI effect on vigilant attention performance. Sleep deprivation increased the ISI effect on both PVT-S and PVT-B, which may be due to impaired temporal resolution and time estimation after sleep loss.

Effects of Nocturnal Sleep Quality on Diurnal Cortisol Profiles and Attention in Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…In the present study, PVT results showed that the LSQ group had significantly slower RTs than did the HSQ group. These results are consistent with those of Yang et al (2018), who indicated that sleep deprivation increased RT and reduced processing speed and attention.…”

“…Drummond et al (1999) used fMRI to examine arithmetic performance and cerebral activation after sleep deprivation and found decreased prefrontal cortex responsiveness in sleep-deprived participants. Participants with low sleep quality (LSQ) exhibited longer RTs in performance tests of vigilant attention (Yang et al, 2018). Researchers also reported that a sleep deprivation-induced reduction in the phonological and visuospatial components of the working memory (del Angel et al, 2015) was associated with cognitive impairment and reduction in the speed of processing information (Waters & Bucks, 2011).…”

Two nights of recovery sleep restores hippocampal connectivity but not episodic memory after total sleep deprivation

“…Participants. A total of 70 healthy adults (age range 21-50 years, 41 males) participated in a 5-day and 4-night in-laboratory controlled sleep deprivation experiment 93,94 , including 54 adults in the experimental group with one night of TSD ( Fig. 1a) and 16 adults in the control group without sleep loss (Fig.…”

An Evaluation of the Effects of a Non-caffeinated Energy Dietary Supplement on Cognitive and Physical Performance: A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study

“…The PVT is a widely used neurobehavioral test and is a sensitive measure of fatigue and attention deficits in clinical and experimental contexts [22,23]. Performance on psychomotor vigilant attention tasks generally improves with increased physiological arousal [24].…”