Commonality and diversity of impairments in inhibitory tasks after total sleep deprivation: evidence from drift diffusion model

Both the Flanker and Go/No-Go tasks are undermined by sleep deprivation due to the generally degraded central information processing, while sleep loss differently impacts the sub-components of inhibitory control, with only response inhibition being impaired. These findings demonstrate the practicability of computational modeling in uncovering latent cognitive deficits obscured by traditional behavioral metrics. Statement of Significance This study highlights a shared mechanism interfere central information processing-central inform sleep deprivation disrupts inhibitory tasks. By applying the DDM to behavioral tasks, we reveal latent deficits underlying "nonsignificant" effects of sleep loss on global behavioral measures. These findings suggest that drift rate reduction could serve as a potential marker for cognitive impairments, with direct implications for interventions targeting occupational safety (e.g. shift workers) and clinical populations (e.g. attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Future work could validate these mechanisms by incorporating multimodal approaches and linking the targeted cognitive processes to their neural representations.