Sleep Deprivation Influences Trial-to-Trial Transfer but Not Task Performance

Previous research has shown that sleep deprivation can affect emotions and some cognitive functions. However, research on how sleep deprivation influences the visuomotor memory have rarely been reported. In the current study, a Fitts' Law task was used to investigate how movement and the visuomotor memory are affected under the condition of sleep deprivation. Experiment 1 had 36 participants (15 males, mean age = 21.61 years) complete the same Fitts' Law task 10 days apart under standard conditions. Experiment 2 had five participants (three males, mean age = 27.2 years) complete the task after 7 days of sleep deprivation, then complete it again after 10 days without sleep deprivation. Experiment 1 demonstrated the stability of the trial-to-trial effects. Experiment 2 showed that the previous trial (n) exerted no effect on the current trial (n + 1) under the conditions of sleep deprivation (p = 0.672). However, the effect was observed after 10 days without sleep deprivation (p = 0.013). This suggests that sleep deprivation did not affect task performance but influenced the transfer of the trial history. Future studies are required to investigate the effect of sleep deprivation with more participants.