Sleep Deprivation Impairs the Human Central and Peripheral Nervous System Discrimination of Social Threat

• DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.5254-14.2015
• Publication Date: 2015-07-15T17:00:29Z
• Authors: A. N. Goldstein-P...; S. M. Greer; J. M. Saletin; M. P. Walker
• Keywords: Sleep; Insular cortex

Facial expressions represent one of the most salient cues in our environment. They communicate affective state and intent an individual and, if interpreted correctly, adaptively influence behavior others return. Processing such stimuli is known to require reciprocal signaling between central viscerosensory brain regions peripheral-autonomic body systems, culminating accurate emotion discrimination. Despite emerging links sleep regulation, impact loss on discrimination complex social emotions within CNS PNS remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate humans that deprivation impairs both (anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala) autonomic-cardiac threatening from affiliative facial cues. Moreover, significantly degrades normally associations these peripheral emotion-signaling prominent at level cardiac-amygdala coupling. In addition, REM physiology across sleep-rested night predicts next-day success emotional this network individuals, suggesting a role for recalibration. Together, findings establish compromises faithful of, “embodied” reciprocity between, autonomic processing signals. Such impairments hold ecological relevance professional contexts which need interpretation paramount yet insufficient pervasive.