Effects of Total Sleep Deprivation on the Cognitive Function in the Normal Adult Male Subjects

Lee, Heung Pyo; Kim, Dai Jin; Go, Hyo Jin; Kim, Soo Yong; Lee, Sung Phil

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of acute sleep deprivation of 36 hours on cognitive functions, and investigate which region of brain would dysfunction by sleep deprivation.
METHODS
We carried out sleep deprivation in the 18 healthy and right handed males in their 20's. We also administered to them Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery and Calculation and Digit Span task of K-WAIS in order to examine cognitive functions before and after sleep deprivations.
RESULTS
There were no differences in freedom from distractability, tactile function, visual function, reading, writing, calculation, and intellectual process function. However, motor function, rhythm, receptive speech, expressive speech, memory, and complex verbal arithmetic function decreased after sleep deprivation. In motor function, delayed speed and high fail rate in complex forms of praxis and selectivity of motor acts were observed. In area of receptive speech and expressive speech, understanding of logical and grammatical structure, spontaneous speech, sequencing and filling in items which are grammatically accurate decreased. All these functions related with dysfunction in right hemisphere anterior region. Also in localization scales, the fail rates of right frontal dysfunction scale and right temporal dysfunction scale increased after sleep deprivation.
CONCLUSIONS
From these results, we suggest that sleep deprivation has negative effect on the cognitive functions. Especially, sleep deprivation might be associated with dysfunction of anterior region in right hemisphere or subcortical dysfunction.