A fMRI study of the brain activity as a function of total sleep deprivation and circadian rhythmicity

Abstract

Sleep deprivation significantly impairs human cognitive functioning. The cerebral response to sleep deprivation was examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on 16 subjects to monitor brain activity across 24 hr. The tone task found activations in the left precentral gyrus, thalamus, bilateral medial frontal cortex, right superior temporal gyrus and left substantia nigra while the numbers task found activations in the left precentral gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, right inferior parietal gyrus, bilateral ACC and bilateral thalamus. The effects of total sleep deprivation (TSD) were most acute in the superior temporal gyrus, suggesting a predisposition to the effects of total sleep deprivation as well as its role as an indicator of task performance. The inferior parietal lobes and the thalamus may be part of a compensatory response undertaken by the brain to counter the effects of sleep deprivation.