One night of total sleep deprivation impairs implicit learning in the serial reaction task, but not the behavioral expression of knowledge.

Implicit sequence learning in the serial reaction task suffers from total sleep deprivation. The authors compared implicit-learning scores in a sleep-deprivation (SD) group (n = 12) and a control group (n = 6). Both groups were tested immediately after learning a 1st sequence; a delayed test was conducted on the next day (after a night without sleep in the SD group). Immediately after the delayed test a 2nd sequence was learned, followed by an immediate test and a delayed test toward the end of the experiment. In the SD group implicit-learning scores were reduced in both tests of the 2nd sequence, but in neither test of the 1st sequence. Thus, 1 night of total sleep deprivation impairs the acquisition of implicit sequence knowledge, but not its behavioral expression.