Sleep Deprivation Impairs Human Cognitive Reappraisal Ability: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PURPOSE: This study aims to examine the impact of sleep deprivation on individual cognitive reappraisal ability using a standardized behavioral paradigm. METHODS: A randomized pretest-posttest control group design was conducted. Thirty-nine participants were eventually enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either the sleep control (SC: n = 17) or the sleep deprivation (SD: n = 22). Both of them were required to perform a standardized behavioral paradigm of measuring cognitive reappraisal ability one time under sleep-rested condition and another time under the condition of different sleep manipulation a week later. RESULTS: Mean valence ratings of SD group were more negative than SC group’s (p < 0.05) and mean arousal ratings of SD group were higher than SC group’s (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Sleep deprivation may impair individual cognitive reappraisal ability and could potentially undermine the efficacy of cognitive therapy in terms of emotion regulation.