Impact of nocturnal sleep deprivation on declarative memory retrieval in students at an orphanage: a psychoneuroradiological study

Abstract


Background and methods: This study investigated the effects of sleep deprivation on total and partial (early and late) declarative memory and activation in the areas of the brain involved in these activities. The study included two experiments. Experiment 1 included 40 male residents of an orphanage aged 16–19 years, who were divided into four groups (n = 10 each) and subjected to total sleep deprivation, normal sleep, early-night sleep deprivation, or late-night sleep deprivation. Experiment 2 included eight students from the same institution who were divided into the same four groups (n = 2) as in experiment 1. Declarative memory was tested using lists of associated word pairs in both experiments, and activation of the relevant brain regions was measured before and after retrieval by single-photon emission computed tomography for subjects in experiment 2 only. Results: Students subjected to normal sleep had significantly higher scores for declarative memory retrieval than those subjected to total sleep deprivation (P = 0.002), early-night sleep deprivation (P = 0.005), or late-night sleep deprivation (P = 0.02). The left temporal lobe showed the highest rate of activity during memory retrieval after normal sleep, whereas the frontal, parietal, and right temporal lobes were more active after sleep deprivation. Conclusion: Both slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep play an active role in consolidation of declarative memory, which in turn allows memory traces to be actively reprocessed and strengthened during sleep, leading to improved performance in memory recall.



Ahmed O Tantawy Hamdy N El Tallawy Hussein RS Farghaly Wafaa M Farghaly Amr S Hussein | source: Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 123 |
Categories: Health


Other articles

Problems Reported by Parents of Romanian Orphans Adopted to British Columbia

Behaviour problems in Romanian orphans adopted to Canada were examined through parents' interview reports of specific problems,…

Read more

Constraints to educational opportunities of orphans: a community-based study from northern Uganda

The objective of this article is to assess constraints on educational opportunities of orphans cared for within the extended…

Read more

Factors influencing access and retention in secondary schooling for orphaned and vulnerable children and young people: Case studies from high HIV and AIDS prevalence contexts in Lesotho

The aim of this study was to identify factors influencing access and retention in secondary schooling for orphans and other…

Read more

Long-Term Experiencing of Parental Death During Childhood

This qualitative study examined the long-term experience of childhood parental death by exploring how adults (a) retrospectively…

Read more