Effects of cognitive arousal and physiological arousal on sleep perception.
OBJECTIVE
Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of presleep arousal on sleep perception. Experiment 1 examined the link between presleep cognitive arousal and distorted perception of sleep and compared the relative effect of anxious and neutral cognitive arousal on sleep perception. Experiment 2 compared the relative effect of anxious cognitive arousal and physiological arousal on sleep perception.


METHODS
Participants completed a nap session. Just prior to the nap, the participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups to receive different arousal manipulations. They were then allowed to go to sleep and were asked to report their sleep perception upon waking.


METHODS
Sleep laboratory.


METHODS
Fifty-four healthy good sleepers in each experiment.


METHODS
N/A.


RESULTS
Self-reported sleep, actigraphy-defined sleep, and the discrepancy between them were indexed. In Experiment 1, participants who were experimentally manipulated to experience anxious cognitive arousal during the presleep period reported longer sleep-onset latency. Both the Anxious Cognitive Arousal Group and the Neutral Cognitive Arousal Group exhibited a greater discrepancy between self-reported and actigraphy-defined sleep, relative to participants who received no manipulation. In Experiment 2, participants who were experimentally manipulated to experience anxious cognitive arousal or physiological arousal during the presleep period reported longer sleep-onset latency and shorter total sleep time, and both groups exhibited a greater discrepancy between the self-reported and actigraphy-defined sleep, relative to participants who received no manipulation.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that both presleep cognitive arousal and presleep physiological arousal contribute to distorted perception of sleep.
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Nicole K Y
NK
Tang
Allison G
AG
Harvey
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000150:complications; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors