Sleep Deprivation and Memory: Meta-Analytic Reviews of Studies on Sleep Deprivation Before and After Learning.

Research suggests that sleep deprivation both before and after encoding has a detrimental effect on memory for newly learned material. However, there is as yet no quantitative analyses of the size of these effects. We conducted two meta-analyses of studies published between 1970 and 2020 that invest...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological Bulletin Vol. 147; no. 11; pp. 1215 - 1241
Main Authors: Newbury, Chloe R., Crowley, Rebecca, Rastle, Kathleen, Tamminen, Jakke
Format: Article
Published: American Psychological Association Nov2021
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=161849088&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 161849088
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00332909
        PSB
      jtl: Psychological Bulletin
      issn: 00332909
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Nov2021
      vid: 147
      iid: 11
      pid: 34
      pub: American Psychological Association
    artinfo:
      ui:
        161849088
        10.1037/bul0000348
      ppf: 1215
      ppct: 26
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: Sleep Deprivation and Memory: Meta-Analytic Reviews of Studies on Sleep Deprivation Before and After Learning.
      aug:
        au:
          Newbury, Chloe R.
          Crowley, Rebecca
          Rastle, Kathleen
          Tamminen, Jakke
        affil: Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London
      su:
        Memory
        Learning
        Sleep deprivation
        Long-term memory
        Statistical power analysis
        Explicit memory
        Sleep hygiene
      sug:
        subj:
          Memory
          Learning
          Sleep deprivation
          Long-term memory
          Statistical power analysis
          Explicit memory
          Sleep hygiene
      keyword:
        learning
        memory
        meta-analysis
        sleep
        sleep deprivation
        learning
        memory
        meta-analysis
        sleep
        sleep deprivation
      ab: Research suggests that sleep deprivation both before and after encoding has a detrimental effect on memory for newly learned material. However, there is as yet no quantitative analyses of the size of these effects. We conducted two meta-analyses of studies published between 1970 and 2020 that investigated effects of total, acute sleep deprivation on memory (i.e., at least one full night of sleep deprivation): one for deprivation occurring before learning and one for deprivation occurring after learning. The impact of sleep deprivation after learning on memory was associated with Hedges' g = 0.277, 95% CI [0.177, 0.377]. Whether testing took place immediately after deprivation or after recovery sleep moderated the effect, with significantly larger effects observed in immediate tests. Procedural memory tasks also showed significantly larger effects than declarative memory tasks. The impact of sleep deprivation before learning was associated with Hedges' g = 0.621, 95% CI [0.473, 0.769]. Egger's tests for funnel plot asymmetry suggested significant publication bias in both meta-analyses. Statistical power was very low in most of the analyzed studies. Highly powered, preregistered replications are needed to estimate the underlying effect sizes more precisely. Public Significance Statement: The health risks associated with lack of sleep are well known, but the consequences of missing one or more nights of sleep for learning and memory are less well appreciated. In two meta-analyses pooling studies across 5 decades of research, we found that total sleep deprivation before learning as well as after learning had a detrimental impact on memory for the newly learned materials. These data suggest sleep supports learning and memory in two ways: It prepares the brain for learning over the next day, and it helps strengthen new memories learned during the previous day.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N