title: One night of total sleep deprivation impairs implicit learning in the serial reaction task, but not the behavioral expression of knowledge.
abstract: Implicit sequence learning in the serial reaction task suffers from total sleep deprivation. The authors compared implicit-learning scores in a sleep-deprivation (SD) group (n = 12) and a control group (n = 6). Both groups were tested immediately after learning a 1st sequence; a delayed test was conducted on the next day (after a night without sleep in the SD group). Immediately after the delayed test a 2nd sequence was learned, followed by an immediate test and a delayed test toward the end of the experiment. In the SD group implicit-learning scores were reduced in both tests of the 2nd sequence, but in neither test of the 1st sequence. Thus, 1 night of total sleep deprivation impairs the acquisition of implicit sequence knowledge, but not its behavioral expression.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Arbeitsphysiologie an der Universität Dortmund, Germany. heuer@ifado.de
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Heuer
authors.forename: Wolfhard
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Klein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors