Altered brain response to verbal learning following sleep deprivation

The effects of sleep deprivation on the neural substrates of cognition are poorly understood. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure the effects of 35 hours of sleep deprivation on cerebral activation during verbal learning in normal young volunteers. On the basis of a previou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2000-02, Vol.403 (6770), p.655-657
Main Authors: Gillin, J. Christian, Drummond, Sean P. A, Brown, Gregory G, Stricker, John L, Wong, Eric C, Buxton, Richard B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain - physiology
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Learning
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Nervous system
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Oxygen - blood
parietal lobe
Parietal Lobe - physiology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sleep - physiology
Sleep Deprivation
Verbal Learning - physiology
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Summary:The effects of sleep deprivation on the neural substrates of cognition are poorly understood. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure the effects of 35 hours of sleep deprivation on cerebral activation during verbal learning in normal young volunteers. On the basis of a previous hypothesis, we predicted that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) would be less responsive to cognitive demands following sleep deprivation. Contrary to our expectations, however, the PFC was more responsive after one night of sleep deprivation than after normal sleep. Increased subjective sleepiness in sleep-deprived subjects correlated significantly with activation of the PFC. The temporal lobe was activated after normal sleep but not after sleep deprivation; in contrast, the parietal lobes were not activated after normal sleep but were activated after sleep deprivation. Although sleep deprivation significantly impaired free recall compared with the rested state, better free recall in sleep-deprived subjects was associated with greater parietal lobe activation. These findings show that there are dynamic, compensatory changes in cerebral activation during verbal learning after sleep deprivation and implicate the PFC and parietal lobes in this compensation.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/35001068