The Effects of Total Sleep Deprivation on Attention Capture Processes in Young and Older Adults: An ERP Study

ABSTRACT

Background

The present study investigated whether sleep deprivation affects attention capture in young and older adults using event-related potentials (ERPs).

Methods

Eleven young adults (20–30 y) and nine older adults (60–70 y) were tested following both normal sleep (NS) and total sleep deprivation (TSD). ERPs were recorded during an auditory discrimination task consisting of standard and deviant stimuli.

Results

Deviant stimuli elicited the MMN, P3a, and RON ERPs. TSD attenuated the differences in reaction times between standards and deviants in young adults but not older adults. The P3a was attenuated in older adults compared to young adults. Older adults had a larger RON amplitude compared to young adults following NS, but not TSD.

Conclusions

The reduced P3a and the absence of behavioral performance alteration in the older group suggests that older adults may utilize different neural processing strategies compared to younger adults to compensate for age-related declines in neural resources for attention capture. Sleep loss influenced age-related differences on the RON, suggesting that older adults may have reduced access to compensatory strategies following sleep loss.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Dr. Nadia Gosselin for her contribution to the study design and helpful comments on the manuscript, as well as the participants for their time and effort on this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (http://www.frsq.gouv.qc.ca), Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (http://www.fqrnt.gouv.qc.ca), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca), and Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (www.irsst.qc.ca).