Sleep deprivation impairs cognitive function and is accompanied by a simultaneous compensatory effect, one of the brain's capacities to maintain function in emergency situations. However, the time course of the compensatory effect is unclear. In this study, 22 male participants completed a pronunciation working memory task that included congruent and incongruent stimuli trials with EEG recordings before and after total sleep deprivation (TSD). Behavioral performance analysis showed that after TSD, the participants' reaction time (RT) was shortened, but accuracy was reduced significantly. Analysis of event-related potential (ERP) results showed that the amplitude of N2 (an early visual ERP) was larger (i.e., more negative) after TSD than at baseline. A significant interaction between congruency and sleep condition was seen. Compared to that before TSD, the increase in amplitude of P3 (a stimulus-induced positive deflection component) under an incongruent stimulus was larger than that under a congruent stimulus after TSD. Moreover, a significant negative correlation was found between P3 amplitude and RT. Our results suggest that TSD impairs cognitive function. Meanwhile, the brain activates a compensatory mechanism after TSD, which is comprehensive during the conflict-detection and information-updating stages. This study provides a fresh viewpoint for understanding how TSD affects cognitive function.

中文翻译：

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完全睡眠剥夺在冲突监测过程中触发补偿机制：来自事件相关电位的证据。

睡眠不足会损害认知功能，并伴有同时的补偿效应，这是大脑在紧急情况下维持功能的能力之一。然而，补偿作用的时间进程尚不清楚。在这项研究中，22 名男性参与者完成了发音工作记忆任务，其中包括在完全睡眠剥夺 (TSD) 前后使用脑电图记录进行一致和不一致的刺激试验。行为表现分析显示，经过 TSD 后，参与者的反应时间（RT）缩短，但准确度显着降低。事件相关电位 (ERP) 结果分析表明，TSD 后 N2（早期视觉 ERP）的幅度比基线时更大（即更负）。一致性和睡眠状况之间存在显着的相互作用。与TSD前相比，TSD后非一致刺激下P3（刺激引起的正向偏转分量）振幅的增加大于一致刺激下的幅度。此外，P3振幅与RT之间存在显着的负相关。我们的结果表明 TSD 会损害认知功能。同时，TSD后大脑会激活补偿机制，该机制在冲突检测和信息更新阶段是全面的。这项研究为理解 TSD 如何影响认知功能提供了一个新的观点。