Neuroelectrophysiological alteration associated with cognitive flexibility after 24 h sleep deprivation in adolescents

•This study is the first to explore the effect of sleep deprivation on cognitive flexibility from the perspective of neuroelectrophysiological mechanism.•We complement previous evidence that the working memory related ERP components systematically altered during performing cognitive flexibility task under sleep deprivation.•This study provides direct cognitive neural evidence that 24 h of sleep deprivation affects individual cognitive flexibility.•This study is a preliminary attempt to further understand the relationship between sleep deprivation and mental health in the future. The cognitive neural mechanisms by which sleep deprivation affects cognitive flexibility are poorly understood. Therefore, the study investigated the neuroelectrophysiological basis of the effect of 24 h sleep deprivation on cognitive flexibility in adolescents. 72 participants (36 females, mean age ± SD=20.46 ± 2.385 years old) participated in the study and were randomly assigned to the sleep deprivation group and control group. They were instructed to complete a task switch paradigm, during which participants’ behavioral and electroencephalographic data were recorded. Behaviorally, there were significant between-group differences in accuracy. The results of event-related potential showed that the P2, N2 and P3 components had significant group effects or interaction effects. At the time–frequency level, there were statistically significant differences between the delta and theta bands. These results suggested that 24 h sleep deprivation affected problem-solving effectiveness rather than efficiency, mainly because it systematically impaired cognitive processing associated with cognitive flexibility.