The Role of Sleep for Age-Related Differences in Neurobehavioral Performance

Overview

Journal Life (Basel)

Specialty Biology

Date 2024 Apr 27

PMID 38672766

Authors

Orna Tzischinsky

Efrat Barel

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This study investigated developmental changes from childhood to adulthood in neurobehavioral performance and sleep measures. While many studies have examined age-related changes between childhood and adolescence and from mid-to-late adulthood, young adulthood has been overlooked. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sleep loss on developmental changes in neurobehavioral performance and sleepiness in a natural setting. A total of 119 children, adolescents, and young adults (38 children aged 6-9; 38 adolescents aged 13-19; and 43 young adults aged 20-27) wore an actigraph for a continuous five-weekday night. Subjective sleepiness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale) and neurobehavioral performance (using the psychomotor vigilance test and the digit symbol substitution test) were measured on five school days. The results showed that adolescents and young adults outperformed children on both the digit symbol substitution test and the psychomotor vigilance test measures. However, adolescents committed more errors of commission on the psychomotor vigilance test and reported higher levels of subjective sleepiness. The results are discussed in relation to brain maturation in various cognitive functions.

References

Lim J, Dinges D . Sleep deprivation and vigilant attention. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008; 1129:305-22. DOI: 10.1196/annals.1417.002. View

Smith A, Halari R, Giampetro V, Brammer M, Rubia K . Developmental effects of reward on sustained attention networks. Neuroimage. 2011; 56(3):1693-704. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.01.072. View

Bajerski A, Jesus I, Jose de Menezes-Junior F, Leite N . Instruments For Assessment Of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness In Brazilian Children And Adolescents: Systematic Review. Rev Paul Pediatr. 2022; 40:e2020230. PMC: 8983008. DOI: 10.1590/1984-0462/2022/40/2020230. View

Gow A, Johnson W, Pattie A, Brett C, Roberts B, Starr J . Stability and change in intelligence from age 11 to ages 70, 79, and 87: the Lothian Birth Cohorts of 1921 and 1936. Psychol Aging. 2010; 26(1):232-40. DOI: 10.1037/a0021072. View

Deary I . Intelligence. Annu Rev Psychol. 2011; 63:453-82. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100353. View

Kalbitzer J, Deserno L, Schlagenhauf F, Beck A, Mell T, Bahr G . Decline in prefrontal catecholamine synthesis explains age-related changes in cognitive speed beyond regional grey matter atrophy. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2012; 39(9):1462-6. DOI: 10.1007/s00259-012-2162-4. View

Staub B, Doignon-Camus N, Despres O, Bonnefond A . Sustained attention in the elderly: what do we know and what does it tell us about cognitive aging?. Ageing Res Rev. 2012; 12(2):459-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2012.12.001. View

Ong J, Jamaluddin S, Tandi J, Chee N, Leong R, Huber R . Cortical thinning and sleep slow wave activity reductions mediate age-related improvements in cognition during mid-late adolescence. Sleep. 2021; 45(1). PMC: 8754498. DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsab206. View

Fortenbaugh F, DeGutis J, Germine L, Wilmer J, Grosso M, Russo K . Sustained Attention Across the Life Span in a Sample of 10,000: Dissociating Ability and Strategy. Psychol Sci. 2015; 26(9):1497-510. PMC: 4567490. DOI: 10.1177/0956797615594896. View

10.

Louca M, Short M . The effect of one night's sleep deprivation on adolescent neurobehavioral performance. Sleep. 2014; 37(11):1799-807. PMC: 4196063. DOI: 10.5665/sleep.4174. View

11.

Williams J, Zimmerman F, Bell J . Norms and trends of sleep time among US children and adolescents. JAMA Pediatr. 2013; 167(1):55-60. PMC: 5814130. DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.423. View

12.

Laberge L, Petit D, Simard C, Vitaro F, Tremblay R, Montplaisir J . Development of sleep patterns in early adolescence. J Sleep Res. 2001; 10(1):59-67. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2869.2001.00242.x. View

13.

Salthouse T . When does age-related cognitive decline begin?. Neurobiol Aging. 2009; 30(4):507-14. PMC: 2683339. DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2008.09.023. View

14.

Ferguson H, Brunsdon V, Bradford E . The developmental trajectories of executive function from adolescence to old age. Sci Rep. 2021; 11(1):1382. PMC: 7809200. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-80866-1. View

15.

Silver H, Feldman P . Evidence for sustained attention and working memory in schizophrenia sharing a common mechanism. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2005; 17(3):391-8. DOI: 10.1176/jnp.17.3.391. View

16.

Van Dongen H, Maislin G, Mullington J, Dinges D . The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness: dose-response effects on neurobehavioral functions and sleep physiology from chronic sleep restriction and total sleep deprivation. Sleep. 2003; 26(2):117-26. DOI: 10.1093/sleep/26.2.117. View

17.

Wu L, Acebo C, Seifer R, Carskadon M . Sleepiness and Cognitive Performance among Younger and Older Adolescents across a 28-Hour Forced Desynchrony Protocol. Sleep. 2015; 38(12):1965-72. PMC: 4667372. DOI: 10.5665/sleep.5250. View

18.

de Bruin E, van Run C, Staaks J, Meijer A . Effects of sleep manipulation on cognitive functioning of adolescents: A systematic review. Sleep Med Rev. 2016; 32:45-57. DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2016.02.006. View

19.

Curcio G, Ferrara M, De Gennaro L . Sleep loss, learning capacity and academic performance. Sleep Med Rev. 2006; 10(5):323-37. DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2005.11.001. View

20.

Constantinidis C, Luna B . Neural Substrates of Inhibitory Control Maturation in Adolescence. Trends Neurosci. 2019; 42(9):604-616. PMC: 6721973. DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2019.07.004. View