TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparing sleep-loss sleepiness and sleep inertia
T2 - Lapses make the difference
AU - Miccoli, Laura
AU - Versace, Francesco
AU - Koterle, Sara
AU - Cavallero, Corrado
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from Universitàdegli Studi di Trieste to Corrado Cavallero and Francesco Versace. The authors wish to thank Chiara Biason and Davide Jugovac for assistance with data collection, and Gina Janica, Andreas Keil, and Pedro M. Guerra Muñoz for their helpful comments on the manuscript. We would also like to thank the three anonymous reviewers of this journal for their contribution to improving the quality of the manuscript.
PY - 2008/9
Y1 - 2008/9
N2 - To compare the behavioral effects of sleep-loss sleepiness (performance impairment due to sleep loss) and sleep inertia (period of impaired performance that follows awakening), mean response latencies and number of lapses from a visual simple reaction-time task were analyzed. Three experimental conditions were designed to manipulate sleepiness and sleep-inertia levels: uninterrupted sleep, partial sleep reduction, and total sleep deprivation. Each condition included two consecutive nights (the first always a night of uninterrupted sleep, and the second either a night of uninterrupted sleep, a night when sleep was reduced to 3 h, or a night of total sleep deprivation), as well as two days in which performance was assessed at 10 different time points (08:00, 08:30, 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:00, and 23:00 h). From 08:00 to 09:00 h, reaction times in the partial sleep-reduction and total sleep-deprivation conditions were at a similar level and were slower than those observed in the uninterrupted sleep condition. In the same time period, the frequency of lapses in the total sleep-deprivation condition was higher than in the partial sleep-reduction condition, while this latter condition never differed from the uninterrupted sleep condition. The results indicate that both sleep inertia and sleep-loss sleepiness lead to an increase in response latencies, but only extreme sleepiness leads to an increase in lapse frequency. We conclude that while reaction times slow as a result of both sleep inertia and sleep-loss sleepiness, lapses appear to be a specific feature of sleep-loss sleepiness.
AB - To compare the behavioral effects of sleep-loss sleepiness (performance impairment due to sleep loss) and sleep inertia (period of impaired performance that follows awakening), mean response latencies and number of lapses from a visual simple reaction-time task were analyzed. Three experimental conditions were designed to manipulate sleepiness and sleep-inertia levels: uninterrupted sleep, partial sleep reduction, and total sleep deprivation. Each condition included two consecutive nights (the first always a night of uninterrupted sleep, and the second either a night of uninterrupted sleep, a night when sleep was reduced to 3 h, or a night of total sleep deprivation), as well as two days in which performance was assessed at 10 different time points (08:00, 08:30, 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:00, and 23:00 h). From 08:00 to 09:00 h, reaction times in the partial sleep-reduction and total sleep-deprivation conditions were at a similar level and were slower than those observed in the uninterrupted sleep condition. In the same time period, the frequency of lapses in the total sleep-deprivation condition was higher than in the partial sleep-reduction condition, while this latter condition never differed from the uninterrupted sleep condition. The results indicate that both sleep inertia and sleep-loss sleepiness lead to an increase in response latencies, but only extreme sleepiness leads to an increase in lapse frequency. We conclude that while reaction times slow as a result of both sleep inertia and sleep-loss sleepiness, lapses appear to be a specific feature of sleep-loss sleepiness.
KW - Lapses
KW - Performance
KW - Reaction times
KW - Sleep inertia
KW - Sleepiness
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U2 - 10.1080/07420520802397228
DO - 10.1080/07420520802397228
M3 - Article
C2 - 18780200
AN - SCOPUS:51549100868
SN - 0742-0528
VL - 25
SP - 725
EP - 744
JO - Chronobiology International
JF - Chronobiology International
IS - 5
ER -