Are subjective sleepiness and sleep quality related to prospective memory?

Böhm, Mateja F.; Bayen, Ute J.; Schaper, Marie Luisa · 2020 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1186/s41235-019-0199-7

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Summary

This study investigates whether subjective sleepiness and subjective sleep quality influence event-based prospective memory (PM), which involves remembering to perform intended actions when specific cues occur. While previous research established that objective sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality impair PM, the relationship with subjective sleep measures remained unclear. The authors aimed to address this gap by distinguishing between the two components of PM: the prospective component (remembering that an intention exists) and the retrospective component (remembering what the intention is and when to execute it). They hypothesized that subjective sleep variables would primarily affect the attention-demanding prospective component rather than the recognition-based retrospective component. The research comprised two studies using a computerized nonfocal PM task embedded within an ongoing color-matching task. In Study 1, 118 participants performed the task while reporting naturally occurring subjective sleepiness via the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and subjective sleep quality via the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Study 2 experimentally manipulated sleepiness by having participants perform the task in either an upright or supine body posture, as lying down induces additional sleepiness. To isolate the cognitive processes underlying PM, the researchers employed Bayesian multinomial processing tree (MPT) modeling, which allowed for the separate estimation of prospective and retrospective performance probabilities, overcoming the confounding nature of traditional PM hit rates. The results indicated that neither subjective sleepiness nor subjective sleep quality was significantly related to overall PM performance or its individual components in Study 1. Bayesian analysis provided weak evidence supporting the null hypothesis for these relationships. In Study 2, inducing sleepiness through supine posture did not significantly alter PM performance compared to the upright posture. However, body posture moderated the relationship between subjective sleep quality and the prospective component: in the supine posture, better subjective sleep quality tended to be more positively associated with prospective memory performance. Despite this interaction, the main effects remained non-significant, suggesting that subjective sleep measures alone do not reliably predict PM deficits in healthy young adults. The study concludes that subjective sleepiness and subjective sleep quality are not directly related to prospective memory performance in the general population. This contrasts with findings on objective sleep measures, suggesting that subjective complaints may not capture the cognitive mechanisms relevant to PM failures. The authors note that future research should examine whether these findings hold for individuals with clinical sleep disorders or excessive daytime sleepiness, as the current sample consisted of healthy young adults. The use of MPT modeling and Bayesian statistics provided a robust method for disentangling PM components and interpreting null results, contributing a nuanced understanding of how sleep variables interact with cognitive control processes.

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• prospective memory interruptions