A One-Hour Sleep Restriction Impacts Brain Processing in Young Children Across Tasks: Evidence From Event-related Potentials

Authors

Dennis Molfese, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Anna Ivanenko, Northwestern University
Alexandra P.F. Key, Vanderbilt University
Adrienne Roman, Indiana University - Bloomington
Victoria J. Molfese, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Louise M. O'Brien, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
David Gozal, University of Chicago
Srinivas Kota, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Caitlin M. Hudac, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2013

Citation

Published in final edited form as: Dev Neuropsychol. 2013 ; 38(5): 317–336. doi:10.1080/87565641.2013.799169. PMCID: PMC4361951 HHS Public Access

Comments

Copyright 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Abstract

The effect of mild sleep restriction on cognitive functioning in young children is unclear, yet sleep loss may impact children's abilities to attend to tasks with high processing demands. In a preliminary investigation, six children (6.6 - 8.3 years of age) with normal sleep patterns performed three tasks: attention (“Oddball”), speech perception (conconant-vowel syllables) and executive function (Directional Stroop). Event-related potentials (ERP) responses were recorded before (Control) and following one-week of 1-hour per day of sleep restriction. Brain activity across all tasks following Sleep Restriction differed from activity during Control Sleep, indicating that minor sleep restriction impacts children's neurocognitive functioning.