睡眠限制对认知功能的影响及其潜在作用机制

睡眠限制已然成为现代社会人们普遍面临的问题, 其对个体身心机能的影响备受研究者关注。众多研究表明, 睡眠限制会对注意功能、执行功能和长时记忆等不同认知领域的心理加工产生差异化影响, 且影响程度与任务类型、睡眠限制的严重程度、年龄和性别等因素相关。研究者们提出了4种主要的作用假说：唤醒假说、注意控制假说、警觉性假说以及前额皮层易感性假说。未来研究需要从关注个体间差异、使用动脉自旋标记灌注功能磁共振成像技术以及重视轻度睡眠限制的影响等角度进行深化和扩展。

Effect of sleep restriction on cognitive function and its underlying mechanism

Effects of sleep restriction on cognitive functions have been of considerable concern. Studies showed that effects of sleep restriction on cognitive performance were inconsistent and suggested that effects of sleep restriction on cognition would depend on cognitive domains (e.g. attention, executive function and long-term memory), the severity of sleep restriction, as well as demographic characteristics (e.g. age and gender). Four main possible hypotheses including the arousal hypothesis, the vigilance hypothesis, the controlled attention hypothesis and the prefrontal cortex vulnerability hypothesis have been put forward to explain the underlying mechanism. Further understanding of such mechanism could be facilitated by focusing on individual differences, effects of mild sleep restriction and employing the ASL Perfusion MRI technology.