Dissertation
THE ROLE OF VIGILANT ATTENTION IN ATTENTIONAL CONTROL DEFICITS CAUSED BY SLEEP DEPRIVATION
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2020
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/110786
Abstract
Sleep deprivation diminishes activity of the ascending arousal system, causing reduced vigilant attention. It has been proposed that reduced vigilant attention during sleep deprivation causes impairments on an array of tasks via a general deterioration of performance. However, there is evidence that the effects of sleep deprivation on performance are multi-faceted and cannot be explained solely in terms of vigilant attention. Specifically, studies have shown that sleep loss may impair attentional control, but the role of vigilant attention in performance impairments was not thoroughly investigated. This dissertation addresses this issue. First, an experiment was conducted to test whether vigilant attention-related failures of information acquisition could explain deficits from sleep deprivation in a reversal-learning performance task. Simulated information acquisition failures did not produce impairments like those previously observed during sleep deprivation, suggesting that reversal- \nlearning deficits caused by sleep loss are not simply downstream effects of reduced vigilant attention. \nNext, the effects of sleep deprivation on performance of an attentional control task were investigated, and outcome measures were dissociated into statistically independent components of performance. Three separable components were identified, of which two were significantly impacted by sleep loss. One was specifically related to vigilant attention and the other to aspects of attentional control. These results indicate that sleep deprivation affects vigilant attention and attentional control differentially, suggesting potentially distinct underlying mechanisms. \nFinally, a novel rodent search task was developed, in which rats use floor vibrations as a mode of directional feedback to find an unmarked target destination. This vibration actuating search task (VAST), which was designed to require attentional control, was learned by rats within 2 days, and performance was impaired by sleep deprivation in a manner not easily explained by reduced arousal alone. Thus, the VAST may serve as a testbed for future investigations into the mechanisms underlying deficits in attentional control caused by sleep loss. \nThis dissertation contributes new evidence demonstrating that performance impairment due to sleep deprivation is not just a downstream effect of reduced vigilant attention, and that attentional control deficits constitute a separate and dissociable aspect of the detrimental impact of sleep deprivation on cognition.
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Details
- Title
- THE ROLE OF VIGILANT ATTENTION IN ATTENTIONAL CONTROL DEFICITS CAUSED BY SLEEP DEPRIVATION
- Creators
- Darian Hannah Lawrence-Sidebottom
- Contributors
- Hans PA Van Dongen (Advisor)Paul Whitney (Committee Member)John M Hinson (Committee Member)Christopher J Davis (Committee Member)Kimberly A Honn (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Program in Neuroscience
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 165
- Identifiers
- 99900581608901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation