Total sleep deprivation effects on the attentional blink.

The Attentional Blink (AB) is a phenomenon that reflects difficulty in detecting or identifying the second of two successive targets (T1 and T2) that are presented in rapid succession, between 200-500ms apart. The AB involves indicators of attentional and temporal integration mechanisms related to the early stages of visual processing. The aim of this study was to identify the effects of 24-h of sleep deprivation (total sleep deprivation, TSD) on the attentional and temporal integration mechanisms of the AB.

Changes during the sleep onset process on EEG activity and the components of attention.

The sleep onset process (SOP) happens every time a person falls asleep, regardless of the time of day or if they are doing an activity. Basic cognitive processes, such as attention, differ between wakefulness and sleep. The components of attention - tonic alertness, phasic alertness, selective, and sustained attention - are known to decrease during sleep, however they have not been analyzed during the sleep onset process.

Changes in sleep habits during the lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic in the population and people attending a morning or an afternoon shift in Monterrey, Mexico.

To fight the Covid-19 pandemic, most countries implemented a lockdown that involved restricting the activity and confining the population to their homes. The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of the lockdown on sleep in people from the population of Monterrey, Mexico, and people attending a morning or afternoon work or study shift after more than a month adaptation period. Participants were 861 residents from Monterrey, Mexico, who completed an anonymous 20-minute web-based survey.

Sleep deprivation effects on basic cognitive processes: which components of attention, working memory, and executive functions are more susceptible to the lack of sleep?

Introduction: Sleep deprived people have difficulties to perform daily activities. Their performance depends on three basic cognitive processes: attention, working memory, and executive functions.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify which specific components of these cognitive processes are more susceptible to a 24-h sleep deprivation period.

Circadian and homeostatic modulation of the attentional blink.

An important property of attention is the limitation to process new information after responding to a stimulus. This property of attention can be evaluated by the Attentional Blink (AB), a phenomenon that consists of a failure to detect the second of two targets when the interval between them is 200-500 ms. The aim of the present work is to determine the possible existence of time awake (homeostatic changes) and time of day (circadian rhythm) variations in the AB.

Effects of sleep reduction on the phonological and visuospatial components of working memory.

Sleep reduction impairs the performance of many tasks, so it may affect a basic cognitive process, such as working memory, crucial for the execution of a broad range of activities. Working memory has two storage components: a phonological and a visuospatial component. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of sleep reduction for 5 days on the storage components of working memory.

Circadian and homeostatic variation in sustained attention.

Human performance is modulated by circadian rhythms and homeostatic changes. Changes in efficiency in the performance of many tasks might be produced by variation in a basic cognitive process, such as sustained attention. This cognitive process is the capacity to respond efficiently to the environment during prolonged periods (from minutes to hours).