title: Homeostatic sleep pressure and responses to sustained attention in the suprachiasmatic area.
abstract: Throughout the day, cognitive performance is under the combined influence of circadian processes and homeostatic sleep pressure. Some people perform best in the morning, whereas others are more alert in the evening. These chronotypes provide a unique way to study the effects of sleep-wake regulation on the cerebral mechanisms supporting cognition. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in extreme chronotypes, we found that maintaining attention in the evening was associated with higher activity in evening than morning chronotypes in a region of the locus coeruleus and in a suprachiasmatic area (SCA) including the circadian master clock. Activity in the SCA decreased with increasing homeostatic sleep pressure. This result shows the direct influence of the homeostatic and circadian interaction on the neural activity underpinning human behavior.
authors.affiliation: Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium. Christina.Schmidt@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Collette
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Leclercq
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sterpenich
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vandewalle
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Berthomier
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berthomier
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Gilberte
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tinguely
authors.forename: Annabelle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Darsaud
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gais
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schabus
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Desseilles
authors.forename: Thien Thanh
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Dang-Vu
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Balteau
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Degueldre
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luxen
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maquet
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cajochen
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Peigneux
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000378:metabolism; D017286:Polysomnography; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013493:Suprachiasmatic Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000502:physiology; D014851:Wakefulness; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D008550:Melatonin