title: The effects of a single night of sleep deprivation on fluency and prefrontal cortex function during divergent thinking.
abstract: The dorsal and ventral aspects of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are the two regions most consistently recruited in divergent thinking tasks. Given that frontal tasks have been shown to be vulnerable to sleep loss, we explored the impact of a single night of sleep deprivation on fluency (i.e., number of generated responses) and PFC function during divergent thinking. Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning twice while engaged in the Alternate Uses Task (AUT) - once following a single night of sleep deprivation and once following a night of normal sleep. They also wore wrist activity monitors, which enabled us to quantify daily sleep and model cognitive effectiveness. The intervention was effective, producing greater levels of fatigue and sleepiness. Modeled cognitive effectiveness and fluency were impaired following sleep deprivation, and sleep deprivation was associated with greater activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) during AUT. The results suggest that an intervention known to temporarily compromise frontal function can impair fluency, and that this effect is instantiated in the form of an increased hemodynamic response in the left IFG.
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada, Toronto Research Centre Toronto, ON, Canada ; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto - Scarborough Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Oshin
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vartanian
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada, Toronto Research Centre Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Fethi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bouak
authors.affiliation: Naval Medical Research Unit - Dayton, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Dayton, OH, USA.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Caldwell
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada, Toronto Research Centre Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Bob
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto - Scarborough Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cupchik
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada, Toronto Research Centre Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Marie-Eve
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Jobidon
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada, Toronto Research Centre Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada, Toronto Research Centre Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada, Toronto Research Centre Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada, Toronto Research Centre Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Silvia
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada, Toronto Research Centre Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Smith
keywords: divergent thinking; executive function; fatigue; fluency; sleep