The Effect of Sleep Deprivation and Recovery Sleep on Emotional Memory and Affective Reactivity
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Summary
To further understand the impact of acute sleep deprivation and recovery sleep on the processing of emotional information the investigators will address and attempt to answer three questions, (i) how both undisturbed sleep and sleep deprivation affect the processing and retrieval of emotional information, (ii) what neural and psychophysiological mechanisms are associated with these behavioral effects, and (iii) to explore the ability of recovery sleep to reverse the effects of sleep deprivation. Together, these studies will provide a greater breadth and depth of knowledge concerning sleep's role in emotion processing and regulation. Given the growing societal tendency to view sleep as unproductive-foregoing it to lengthen work days and increase social opportunities- such knowledge would be of practical importance for understanding the role of sleep in healthy emotional functioning, particular for individuals experiencing periods of increased stress and emotional distress (e.g., new parents, hospital staff, or combat troops).
Description
Goal 1: How does sleep deprivation impact emotion perception and memory processing? The investigators are interested in how an acute loss of sleep impairs our ability to properly perceive, consolidate, and retrieve emotional information. There has been research on the effect of sleep deprivation on broad areas of cognition, such as attention, working memory, and reasoning ability, but the impact of sleep loss on emotional processing and regulation remains largely unexplored. The investigators aim to characterize how sleep deprivation compared to undisturbed sleep affects the ability to accurat…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–35 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * willing and able to follow the protocol * willing and able to meet inclusion criteria for fMRI scanning * willing to refrain from alcohol and recreational drugs for the duration of the protocol * normal or corrected to normal vision is required Exclusion Criteria: * self-reported sleep disturbances * left-handedness or ambidexterity * a history of mental illness or neurological disorder * the use of any drugs that could affect either sleep or cognitive functioning (e.g., sleeping pills or antidepressants)
Interventions
- BehavioralSleep Deprivation
Subjects are sleep deprived for an entire night
- BehavioralDaytime nap
After a night of sleep deprivation, participants will be given a 2 hour nap opportunity
Location
- Tony CunninghamBoston, Massachusetts