The effects of one night of partial sleep deprivation on executive functions in individuals reporting chronic insomnia and good sleepers

Andrea Ballesio; Silvia Cerolini; Fabio Ferlazzo; Nicola Cellini; Caterina Lombardo

doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2018.02.002

The effects of one night of partial sleep deprivation on executive functions in individuals reporting chronic insomnia and good sleepers

J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2018 Sep:60:42-45. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2018.02.002. Epub 2018 Feb 15.

Authors

Andrea Ballesio¹, Silvia Cerolini², Fabio Ferlazzo², Nicola Cellini³, Caterina Lombardo²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Electronic address: andrea.ballesio@uniroma1.it.
² Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
³ Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy; Department of Psychology, University of California Riverside, USA.

PMID: 29567512
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2018.02.002

Abstract

Background and objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a partial sleep deprivation night on executive functions in participants reporting chronic insomnia and good sleepers using a Task Switching paradigm.

Methods: Sixteen participants reporting symptoms of chronic insomnia and sixteen good sleepers were tested after a night of habitual sleep and after a night of partial sleep deprivation (5 h of sleep allowed). The Switch Cost (SC) and the Backward Inhibition (BI) were computed as measures of switching attention and response inhibition, respectively.

Results: We observed a marginally significant interaction Night × Group on SC (F_(1,29) = 4.06, p = 0.053), η² = 0.123. Fisher's least significant difference (LSD) post-hoc revealed a smaller SC after the sleep deprived night relative to the habitual night for the good sleepers (p = 0.027; M = 192.23 ± 201.81 vs M = 98.99 ± 141.16). Differently, participants with insomnia did not show any change after the two nights.

Limitations: Several limitations must be acknowledged including the use of a convenient sample of university students and the use of a single task of cognitive performance.

Conclusions: We found that SC was smaller in the good sleepers after a night of partial sleep deprivation compared to a habitual night, indicating a better switching performance. The insomnia group showed no differences in performance after the two experimental nights. Several factors may account for these results, including increased levels of arousal and cognitive effort during task execution.

Keywords: Cognition; Executive functions; Flexibility; Inhibition; Insomnia; Sleep.

MeSH terms

Adult
Executive Function / physiology*
Female
Humans
Male
Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
Sleep Deprivation / complications
Sleep Deprivation / physiopathology*
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / physiopathology*
Young Adult