Method of the Week

1. The first paper I obtained compared sleep cycles between two groups, one with “superior intelligence” who’s participants averaged around an IQ of 130 and one control group of average IQ’s which was around 100. Study suggests a positive correlation between sleep cycle duration and intelligence. Surprisingly the researchers found a negative correlation between REM density and intelligence. 

Reference:

 Busby, K., & Pivik, R. T. (1983). Sleep patterns in children of Superior Intelligence. Journal of Child Psychology 

and Psychiatry, 24(4), 587–600. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1983.tb00134.x 

2. The study “preliminary fMRI findings in experimentally restricted adolescents engaged in a working memory task” will be discussed . Subjects were put on a strict sleep regimen. The experiment was conducted over three weeks. The first week was for researchers to get a baseline on the subject's sleep habits. This was followed by a week of ‘sleep restriction” where subjects were only allowed 6.5 hours of sleep. Week three was a week designated for “healthy duration” sleep which lasted around 10 hours. During both experimental weeks subjects were given an n-back test designed to evaluate working memory and working memory capacity. During the tests six subjects were given an fMRI. The results of the n-back test results showed no significant difference between the two groups. However, Imaging showed that sleep deprived subjects had a more intense activation in task-positive regions and had less activation in negative-task regions.  

Reference:

Beebe, D. W., DiFrancesco, M. W., Tlustos, S. J., McNally, K. A., & Holland, S. K. (2009). Preliminary fmri findings in 

experimentally sleep-restricted adolescents engaged in a working memory task. Behavioral and Brain Functions,   5(1), 9. 

3)  The study “Frontal Lobe Metabolic Decreases with Sleep Deprivation not Totally Reversed by Recovery Sleep”  takes a look into the neural metabolic function of sleep deprived humans. It was conducted with 32 subjects all normalized to minimize confounding variables. The subjects were sleep deprived for 29-34 hours. Following this a PET scan was used to observe the metabolic function of specific lobes. After this subjects had time for sleep recovery, and with this another PET scan was conducted to investigate how the brain recovers. The results showed that there was a decrease in metabolic function within the frontal lobe, temporal cortex, occipital cortex, and subcortical system.  There were also relative increases in metabolic function of occipital cortex, temporal cortex, parietal cortex, frontal cortex, and limbic system. After sleep recovery metabolic function was only partially restored.  

Reference: 

Wu, J. C., Gillin, J. C., Buchsbaum, M. S., Chen, P., Keator, D. B., Khosla Wu, N., Darnall, L. A., Fallon, J. H., & 

Bunney, W. E. (2006). Frontal lobe metabolic decreases with sleep   deprivation not totally reversed by recovery 

sleep. Neuropsychopharmacology, 31(12), 2783–2792. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1301166 

The study, “ Effect of SCN Lesions on Sleep in Squirrel Monkeys: Evidence for Opponent Processes in Sleep-Wake Regulation” investigates the effect of bilateral radio-frequency lesioning on the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in squirrel monkeys. Ten squirrel monkeys were studied, 5 of which were given the brain lesion, and five of which were a control. The results indicate that the lesions showed to significantly hider the ability to regulate sleep-wake cycle timing and total sleep time. The results also show that these lesions do not affect time in REM and SWS2.

Reference:

Edgar, D., Dement, W., & Fuller, C. (1993). Effect of SCN lesions on sleep in squirrel monkeys: Evidence for opponent processes in sleep-wake regulation. The Journal of Neuroscience, 13(3), 1065–1079. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.13-03-01065.1993 

The study,” The flower pot technique of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep deprivation,” details how the flower pot method is done, along with its efficacy. The study explains how mice are put on a platform in an inverted flower pot filled with water. When the mice enter REM sleep, muscle tone decreases, causing them to fall into the water. The study states that this is an effective way of achieving REM deprivation as it decreased time in REM by roughly 56%. This method was not shown to significantly decrease non-REM sleep.

Mendelson, W. B., Guthrie, R. D., Frederick, G., & Jed Wyatt, R. (1974). The flower pot technique of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 2(4), 553–556.