Functional brain alterations in acute sleep deprivation: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Sleep deprivation (SD) is prevalent, causing cognitive deficits like attention lapses and impaired decision-making.
• Neuroimaging studies on SD show inconsistent results regarding neural correlates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify consistent patterns of abnormal brain function associated with acute sleep deprivation.
• To pinpoint specific brain regions affected by sleep deprivation using meta-analysis.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review and meta-analysis of 31 functional neuroimaging studies on sleep deprivation.
• Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to identify convergent brain activity patterns.
• Functional decoding and resting-state functional connectivity analyses using BrainMap database.

Main Results:

• Reduced brain activity was consistently found in the right intraparietal sulcus and superior parietal lobule due to sleep deprivation.
• Functional decoding linked this region to visuospatial perception, memory, and reasoning.
• Co-activation and connectivity analyses revealed involvement of other regions including occipital cortex, thalamus, insula, and cerebellum.

Conclusions:

• The superior parietal cortex plays a significant role in cognitive functions affected by sleep deprivation.
• Findings highlight the neural basis of cognitive impairments resulting from acute sleep deprivation.