Sleep Deprivation: Effects on Pro-Saccades, Memory-Guided Saccades and Anti-Saccades

In this study we investigated the effect of sleep deprivation on different types of saccadic eye movements, namely reflexive visually-triggered saccades, memory-guided saccades and anti-saccades. These types of saccades differ in the extent of voluntary control and hence involve partially different brain structures. This study may reveal parameters and structures being most sensitive to sleep deprivation. Fifteen healthy volunteers participated in one adaptation night and one test night. During the test night half of the subjects (group 1) slept eight hours in a sleep laboratory, the other subjects (group 2) sta…