Use of Hard Duration Contrast to Assess the Effects of Sleep Deprivation and Recovery Time on the P3

Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) have been used in research to objectively study the effects of sleep and sleep deprivation. The P3 is termed an endogenous AEP because participant attention to the auditory stimulus is required to elicit a response. The current study assessed the effects of sleep deprivation and a brief recovery period on P3 responses. It was hypothesized that sleep deprivation would result in increased P3 latencies and decreased amplitudes. Participants for this study were 28 healthy volunteers between the ages of 20 and 25 years. An oddball paradigm consisting of a difficult to distinguish 75 ms and 50 ms tonal contrast was used to elicit the P3 response in three conditions for each participant: baseline, following at least 24 hours of sleep deprivation, and after either a 30 or 90 minute recovery period. During each condition, data collection protocol repeated to ensure participant understanding of instructions and validity of responses. Prior to each of the three recording conditions, participants completed a questionnaire to provide subjective information regarding their attention/focus, mood, and ability to stay awake. Subjective results showed each of the areas assessed were negatively affected by sleep deprivation with only slight improvements after a recovery period. Results showed increases in AEP latencies following sleep deprivation. Variable AEP amplitude changes were found. Neither a recovery period of 30 or 90 minutes was sufficient to restore sleep-deprived latencies or amplitudes to those of the baseline condition