A Pilot Study on the Encoding of a Perceptual Learning Task following Sleep Deprivation

Memory encoding sometimes must occur during a period of sleep deprivation. The question was whether one night of sleep deprivation inhibits encoding on a perceptual learning task (the texture discrimination task). The sample was 18 human participants (M age = 22.1 yr., SEM = 0.5; 8 men). The participants were randomized to a sleep deprivation or sleep control condition and, after the manipulation, were given two administrations of the texture discrimination task. All participants were given an opportunity for a 90 min. nap between the two administrations. Performance was measured by the interpolated stimulus-to-mask-onset asynchrony (i.e., the inter-stimulus interval), at which the percentage of correct responses for the stimuli in the participant's peripheral vision fell below 80%. Offline consolidation was defined as a decrease in this index between the two administrations. Participants who were sleep deprived prior to encoding exhibited similar offline consolidation (M = −5.3 msec., SEM = 2.3) compared to participants who were not sleep deprived prior to encoding (M = −6.2 msec., SEM = 3.9); the two-way interaction between time and condition was not significant. In light of reports in the literature, these results indicate encoding following sleep deprivation may be influenced by both the type of task encoded and the brain regions involved in memory processing.