The Impact of Sleep and Mental Health on Working Memory

        Sleep deprivation and mental health issues are both becoming more prevalent, especially in adults between the ages of 18 and 25. These trends are particularly attributed to increased work hours, academic workload, access to social media, and the overuse of stimulants like caffeine. Accordingly, poor sleep and mental health are closely linked, with sleep deprivation contributing to a decline in mental health. Consequently, Dr. Almarzouki’s longitudinal study explores the effect that sleep and mental health have on cognition and academic performance in relation to working memory. In both, Dr. Vogel’s and Dr. Almarzouki’s papers, working memory is described as a process that stores task-relevant information while the brain carries out other mental tasks.

In Dr. Vogel’s paper, "Controlling the Flow of Distracting Information in Working Memory," he and his team studied how people filter out distractions from their working memory to focus on relevant tasks using attentional control. They defined distractions as any irrelevant stimuli that can interfere with the processing of relevant information. In the first experiment, participants had to retain information from two tasks while distractors were present. In the second experiment, they explored how the relevance of distractors affected the encoding and storage of relevant information in working memory. The results showed that memory performance decreased when participants were distracted and worsened when they had to discriminate between task-relevant distractors than task-irrelevant ones. Nevertheless, participants were able to recognize and encode task-relevant distractors into visual working memory while suppressing irrelevant ones. Overall, Dr. Vogel’s study suggests that people can regulate their attentional focus to prioritize important information, which leads to better cognitive performance in challenging environments. 

However, impairments in cognitive ability due to poor sleep and mental health may affect one’s ability to filter out distractions in working memory and maintain focus on relevant tasks. In Dr. Almarzouki’s paper, “The Impact of Sleep and Mental Health on Working Memory and Academic Performance: A Longitudinal Study,” researchers decided to study working memory since it is typically a strong predictor of academic performance. The study assessed university students with an average age of 21, gathering demographic data such as GPA, academic year, and caffeine consumption. Sleep quality data was collected through the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PQSI), and mental health data was collected on depression, anxiety, distress, and disordered social media use. Then, the study obtained data from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, which evaluated an individual's working memory. As this and previous research have shown, poor mental health, in anxiety, depression, and stress, is directly correlated with worse sleep quality. Surprisingly, the researchers found that working memory improved during the academic term compared to the summer, even though participants reported higher levels of mental distress and poor sleep. Additionally, participants with a higher GPA were also more likely to experience poor sleep quality and mental health issues. In relation to Dr. Vogel’s research, Dr. Almarzouki’s research shows that although poor sleep and mental health may lead to cognitive impairments, it is not a major limiting factor in a student's ability to filter out distractions and prioritize important information. Ultimately, researchers concluded that individuals with stronger working memory may mask the effects of poor sleep and mental health through cognitive resilience, allowing them to perform better academically despite underlying challenges.

Therefore, Dr. Vogel and Dr. Almarzouki highlight the importance of both attentional control and cognitive resilience in working memory, particularly to increase cognitive performance in challenging environments. Dr. Vogel’s study demonstrates how attentional control allows people to filter out distractions and focus on relevant tasks, which can enhance cognitive performance in distracting settings. Similarly, Dr. Almarzouki’s research emphasizes that individuals with higher working memory may perform better academically, despite poor sleep and mental health, due to cognitive resilience. These findings suggest that promoting cognitive resilience could improve working memory, improving individuals’ ability to filter out distractions and manage the negative effects from sleep deprivation and poor mental health. Programs could also be implemented that focus on sleep quality, mental health resources, and strategies for enhancing attentional control to foster cognitive resilience in working memory. Through these efforts, students may increase cognitive performance in a manner that avoids burnout and worsening mental health issues. 

References

Almarzouki, A. F., Mandili, R. L., Salloom, J., Kamal, L. K., Alharthi, O., Alharthi, S., Khayyat, N., & Baglagel, A. M. (2022). The Impact of Sleep and Mental Health on Working Memory and Academic Performance: A Longitudinal Study. Brain Sciences, 12(11), 1525. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111525 

Hakim, N., Feldmann-Wüstefeld, T., Awh, E., Vogel, E. K. (2021). Controlling the Flow of Distracting Information in Working Memory. Cerebral Cortex, 31(7), 3323-3337. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab013