Impact of sleep deprivation on aperiodic activity: a resting-state EEG study

Sleep deprivation (SD) has been shown to have a negative impact on alertness, as evidenced by behavioral and electroencephalographic studies. Nevertheless, in prior studies utilizing conventional fixed-bandwidth spectral analysis the aperiodic and periodic components were often confused, and some important periodic parameters (i.e., center frequency, bandwidth) were ignored. Here, based on a large open-access dataset of SD, we employed a standardized process for multiple-electrode analysis and group inference. We found that, compared to the healthy sleep control state (SC), the aperiodic offset shifted overall after SD, primarily in the occipital region. This shift was associated with a reduction in subjective alertness. Regarding periodic components, we did not find any power change in the alpha rhythm, but there was an increase in bandwidth of alpha within different regions distributed in the occipital and temporal lobes. These findings highlight the potential significance and value of aperiodic parameters in behavioral and electrophysiological research.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Aperiodic and periodic components were separated in a large open-access EEG dataset of sleep deprivation. Aperiodic offsets increase after deprivation, particularly in the occipital region, reflecting a decline in self-reported vigilance. Parameterized alpha bandwidth, which was ignored in previous studies, is found to be relevant to sleep deprivation. Increase in bandwidth of alpha was focused in the occipital and temporal lobes.