Sleep inertia is the transitional state from sleep to waking and is characterized by decreased attention and productivity, along with disorientation. After waking, this state can last from a few minutes to several hours. Despite a quite long history of research into this phenomenon, there are still no studies assessing its effects on sensory recognition. We report here studies of the effects of daytime sleep inertia on the recognition of barely distinguishable sounds and our evaluation of its influence on event-related brain potentials in response to recognized sounds. A total of 45 healthy volunteers discriminated similar sounds before and after 1-h daytime naps. We found that shallow daytime sleep improved sound recognition. Sleep inertia was produced not so much by deep sleep (third stage) per se as waking from it – volunteers woken during stage three of daytime sleep recognized sounds worse than before sleep. This degradation was accompanied by increases in the latencies of the late cognitive components P3a and P3b and decreases in the amplitude of P3b. The latencies of the early components did not change, and there was even an increase in the amplitude of component P1 after sleep. These results lead to the conclusion that sleep inertia has no negative influence on the early stages of signal analysis, which evaluate the sensory characteristics of stimuli, but impaired the late stages, which are linked with decision-taking and formation of responses to stimuli.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrillon, T., Pressnitzer, D., Leger, D., and Kouider, S., “Formation and suppression of acoustic memories during human sleep,” Nat. Commun., 8, No. 1, 179 (2017).
Asaoka, S., Fukuda, K., Murphy, T., et al., “The effects of a nighttime nap on the error-monitoring functions during extended wakefulness,” Sleep, 35, No. 6, 871–878 (2012).
Asaoka, S., Masaki, H., Ogawa, K., et al., “Performance monitoring during sleep inertia after a 1-h daytime nap: Sleep inertia,” J. Sleep Res., 19, No. 3, 436–443 (2010).
Bruck, D. and Pisani, D. L., “The effects of sleep inertia on decision-making performance,” J. Sleep Res., 8, No. 2, 95–103 (1999).
Brunia, H. M., Hackley, S. A., van Boxtel, J. M., et al., “Waiting to perceive: Reward or punishment?” Clin. Neurophysiol., 122, No. 5, 858–868 (2011).
De Lugt, D. R., Loewy, D. H., and Campbell, K. B., “The effect of sleep onset on event related potentials with rapid rates of stimulus presentation,” Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol., 98, No. 6, 484– 492 (1996).
Escera, C., Alho, K., Winkler, I., and Naatanen, R., “Neural mechanisms of involuntary attention to acoustic novelty and change,” J. Cogn. Neurosci., 10, No. 5, 590–604 (1998).
Feltin, M. and Broughton, R., “Differential effects of arousal from slow wave versus REM sleep,” Psychophysiology, 5, No. 2, 231 (1968).
Ferrara, M., Gennaro, L., and De Bertini, M., “The effects of slow-wave sleep (SWS) deprivation and time of night on behavioral performance upon awakening,” Physiol. Behav., 68, No. 1–2, 55–61 (1999).
Ferrara, M., Gennaro, L., De Ferlazzo, F., et al., “Auditory evoked responses upon awakening from sleep in human subjects,” Neurosci. Lett., 310, No. 2–3, 145–148 (2001).
Ibrahim, A. I., Ting, H. N., and Moghavvemi, M., “The effects of audio stimuli on auditory-evoked potential in normal hearing Malay adults,” Int. J. Health Sci. (Qassim), 12, No. 5, 25–34 (2018).
Jewett, M. E., Wyatt, J. K., Ritz-De Cecco, A., et al., “Time course of sleep inertia dissipation in human performance and alertness,” J. Sleep Res., 8, No. 1, 1–8 (1999).
Kaida, K., Ogawa, K., Nittono, H., et al., “Self-awakening, sleep inertia, and P3 amplitude in elderly people,” Percept. Mot. Skills, 102, No. 2, 339–351 (2006).
Langdon, D. E. and Hartman, B., “Performance upon sudden awakening,” Tech. Doc. Rep. SAMTDR. USAF Sch. Aerosp. Med., 62, No. 8, 17 (1961).
Rechtschaffen, A. and Kales, A., “Manual of standardized terminology, techniques and scoring system for sleep stages of human subjects,” Arch. Gen. Psychiatry, 20, No. 2, 246–247 (1969).
Scott, J. S. F., “’Critical reactivity’ (Pieron) after abrupt awakenings in relation to EEG stages of sleep,” Psychophysiology, 4, 370 (1968).
Shibasaki, H., Barrett, G., Halliday, A. M., and Halliday, E., “Scalp topography of movement-related cortical potentials,” Prog. Brain Res., 54, 237–242 (1980).
Stones, M. J., “Memory performance after arousal from different sleep stages,” Br. J. Psychol., 68, No. 2, 177–181 (1977).
Takahashi, M. and Arito, H., “Sleep inertia and autonomic effects on postnap P300 event-related potential,” Ind. Health, 36, No. 4, 347–353 (2008).
Takahashi, M., Fukuda, H., and Arito, H., “Brief naps during post-lunch rest: Effects on alertness, performance, and autonomic balance,” Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. Occup. Physiol., 78, No. 2, 93–98 (1998).
Ukraintseva, Yu. V., Liaukovich, K. M., Sake, K. L., et al., “Improvements in sound recognition after presentation during sleep,” Zh. Vyssh. Nerv. Deyat., 68, No. 5, 614–626 (2018).
Van Hooff, J. C., De Beer, N. A., Brunia, C. H., et al., “Event-related potential measures of information processing during general anesthesia,” Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol., 103, No. 2, 268–281 (1997).
Webb, W. B. and Agnew, H., “Reaction time and serial response efficiency on arousal from sleep,” Percept. Mot. Skills, 18, No. 3, 783–784 (1964).
Wickens, T. D., Elementary Signal Detection Theory, Oxford University Press (2002), p. 271.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 71, No. 1, pp. 72–85, January–February, 2021.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shilov, M.O., Liaukovich, K.M., Martynova, O.V. et al. Effects of Daytime Sleep Inertia on the Recognition of Barely Distinguishable Sounds. Neurosci Behav Physi 51, 938–946 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01150-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01150-x