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. 2020 May 27:12:309-324.
doi: 10.2147/NSS.S250586. eCollection 2020.

Effects of Total and Partial Sleep Deprivation on Reflection Impulsivity and Risk-Taking in Deliberative Decision-Making

Federico Salfi  1 , Marco Lauriola  2 , Daniela Tempesta  1 , Pierpaolo Calanna  3 , Valentina Socci  1 , Luigi De Gennaro  4 , Michele Ferrara  1
Affiliations

Effects of Total and Partial Sleep Deprivation on Reflection Impulsivity and Risk-Taking in Deliberative Decision-Making

Federico Salfi et al. Nat Sci Sleep. .

Abstract

Study objectives: To evaluate the effects of total and partial sleep deprivation on reflection impulsivity and risk-taking in tasks requiring deliberative decision-making processes.

Participants and methods: Seventy-four healthy young adults were selected to participate in two independent experiments, each consisting of a crossover design. In Experiment 1, 32 participants were tested after one night of regular sleep (RS), and after one night of total sleep deprivation (TSD). In Experiment 2, 42 participants were tested following five nights of RS and after five nights of partial sleep deprivation (PSD), implying five hours of sleep per night. In both the experiments, two deliberative decision-making tasks were administered, involving different decision-making constructs. The Mosaic Task (MT) assessed reflection impulsivity, the tendency to gather information before making a decision. The Columbia Card Task cold version (CCTc) evaluated risk-taking propensity in a dynamic environment.

Results: Unlike TSD, PSD led to an increment of reflection impulsivity and risk-taking. Nevertheless, analyses taking into account the individuals' baseline (RS) performance showed consistent results between the two experimental sleep manipulations. Participants who gathered more information to make decisions in the MT when well-rested, then relied on less evidence under sleep loss, and more cautious participants in the CCTc tended to make riskier decisions.

Conclusion: Results pointed to differential consequences of sleep deprivation depending on the habitual way to respond during decision-making involving deliberative reasoning processes. Results were interpreted according to a putative interaction between sleep loss effect and individual difference factors.

Keywords: deliberative decision-making; individual differences; reflection impulsivity; risk-taking; sleep deprivation; sleep restriction.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental protocol of Experiment 1. Notes: Schematic representation of the experimental protocol of Experiment 1 that included regular sleep and total sleep deprivation conditions, presented in counterbalanced order and separated by one week. The Testing phase was scheduled the morning following the night of both conditions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Experimental protocol of Experiment 2. Notes: Schematic representation of the experimental protocol of Experiment 2, consisting of regular sleep and partial sleep deprivation condition, presented in counterbalanced order and separated by two washout nights. The Testing phase was scheduled the morning following the fifth night of each condition.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Reflection impulsivity × Sleep condition interaction on Mosaic Task performance in Experiment 1. Notes: Mean (and standard error) of the trial-by-trial Draw To Decide mean scores in the two conditions (regular sleep, total sleep deprivation) for the High Reflection impulsivity and Low Reflection impulsivity subgroups. **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Risk-taking × Sleep condition interaction on Columbia Card Task (cold) performance in Experiment 1. Notes: Mean (and standard error) of the trial-by-trial Turned Cards mean scores in the two conditions (regular sleep, total sleep deprivation) for the Low Risk-taking and High Risk-taking subgroups. *p<0.05; ***p<0.001.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Reflection impulsivity × Sleep condition interaction on Mosaic Task performance in Experiment 2. Notes: Mean (and standard error) of the trial-by-trial Draw To Decide mean scores in the two conditions (regular sleep, partial sleep deprivation) for the High Reflection impulsivity and Low Reflection impulsivity subgroups. ***p<0.001.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Risk-taking × Sleep condition interaction on Columbia Card Task (cold) performance in Experiment 2. Notes: Mean (and standard error) of the trial-by-trial Turned Cards mean scores in the two conditions (regular sleep, partial sleep deprivation) for the Low Risk-taking and High Risk-taking subgroups. ***p<0.001.
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