Restorative Effects of Daytime Naps on Inhibitory Control: A Neuroimaging Study Following Sleep Deprivation

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Sleep Science

Background:

• Sleep deprivation impairs cognitive functions, especially inhibitory control, vital for goal-directed actions.
• Modern lifestyles often prevent adequate recovery sleep, necessitating alternative solutions.
• Brief daytime naps are a potential countermeasure, but their neural mechanisms require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of a 30-minute daytime nap on brain activation and cognitive performance post-sleep deprivation.
• To utilize functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to understand how naps modulate brain regions governing inhibitory control.

Main Methods:

• Forty-five participants underwent a dual-choice Oddball task under three conditions: Resting Wakefulness (RW), Sleep Deprivation (SD), and Post-Nap (Nap).
• Measured cognitive performance included reaction times (RT) and accuracy.
• Task-related brain activation was analyzed using fMRI, focusing on frontoparietal and default mode networks (DMN).

Main Results:

• Sleep deprivation significantly worsened inhibitory control (slower RTs, reduced accuracy).
• A 30-minute nap partially restored cognitive performance, showing intermediate improvements.
• fMRI revealed that naps restored prefrontal cortex and occipital lobe activation and enhanced DMN-associated region activity, reducing interference.

Conclusions:

• Daytime naps mitigate cognitive deficits from sleep deprivation by boosting task-relevant brain activation and modulating the DMN.
• These findings illuminate the neural basis of nap-induced cognitive recovery, validating naps for restoring inhibitory control.