Dataset Information

Effect of sleep deprivation on emotional working memory.

ABSTRACT: The emotional dysregulation and impaired working memory found after sleep loss can have severe implications for our daily functioning. Considering the intertwined relationship between emotion and cognition in stimuli processing, there could be further implications of sleep deprivation in high-complex emotional situations. Although studied separately, this interaction between emotion and cognitive processes has been neglected in sleep research. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of 1?night of sleep deprivation on emotional working memory. Sixty-one healthy participants (mean age: 23.4?years) were either sleep deprived for 1?night (n?=?30) or had a normal night's sleep (n?=?31). They performed an N-back task with two levels of working memory load (1-back and 3-back) using positive, neutral and negative picture scenes. Sleep deprivation, compared with full night sleep, impaired emotional working memory accuracy, but not reaction times. The sleep-deprived participants, but not the controls, responded faster to positive than to negative and neutral pictures. The effect of sleep deprivation was similar for both high and low working memory loads. The results showed that although detrimental in terms of accuracy, sleep deprivation did not impair working memory speed. In fact, our findings indicate that positive stimuli may facilitate working memory processing speed after sleep deprivation.

SUBMITTER: Gerhardsson A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7379257 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effect of sleep deprivation on emotional working memory.

Gerhardsson Andreas A Åkerstedt Torbjörn T Axelsson John J Fischer Håkan H Lekander Mats M Schwarz Johanna J

Journal of sleep research 20180808 1

The emotional dysregulation and impaired working memory found after sleep loss can have severe implications for our daily functioning. Considering the intertwined relationship between emotion and cognition in stimuli processing, there could be further implications of sleep deprivation in high-complex emotional situations. Although studied separately, this interaction between emotion and cognitive processes has been neglected in sleep research. The aim of the present study was to investigate the ...[more]

PMID: 30091275

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Project description:Remembering places in which emotional events occur is essential for individual's survival. However, the mechanisms through which emotions modulate information processing in working memory, especially in the visuo-spatial domain, is little understood and controversial. The present research was aimed at investigating the effect of incidentally learned emotional stimuli on visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) performance by using a modified version of the object-location task. Eight black rectangles appeared simultaneously on a computer screen; this was immediately followed by the sequential presentation of eight pictures (selected from IAPS) superimposed onto each rectangle. Pictures were selected considering the two main dimensions of emotions: valence and arousal. Immediately after presentation, participants had to relocate the rectangles in the original position as accurately as possible. In the first experiment arousal and valence were manipulated either as between-subject (Experiment 1A) or as within-subject factors (Experiment 1B and 1C). Results showed that negative pictures enhanced memory for object location only when they were presented with neutral ones within the same encoding trial. This enhancing effect of emotion on memory for object location was replicated also with positive pictures. In Experiment 2 the arousal level of negative pictures was manipulated between-subjects (high vs. low) while maintaining valence as a within-subject factor (negative vs. neutral). Objects associated with negative pictures were better relocated, independently of arousal. In Experiment 3 the role of emotional valence was further ascertained by manipulating valence as a within-subject factor (neutral vs. negative in Experiment 3A; neutral vs. positive in Experiment 3B) and maintaining similar levels of arousal among pictures. A significant effect of valence on memory for location was observed in both experiments. Finally, in Experiment 4, when positive and negative pictures were encoded in the same trial, no significant effect of valence on memory for object location was observed. Taken together results suggest that emotions enhance spatial memory performance when neutral and emotional stimuli compete with one another for access into the working memory system. In this competitive mechanism, an interplay between valence and arousal seems to be at work.

Dataset Information

Effect of sleep deprivation on emotional working memory.

Publications

Effect of sleep deprivation on emotional working memory.

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