Sleep Debt Elicits Negative Emotional Reaction through Diminished Amygdala-Anterior Cingulate Functional Connectivity

Abstract

The results of this study suggest that continuous and accumulating sleep debt that can be experienced in everyday life can downregulate the functional suppression of the amygdala by the vACC and consequently enhance the response of the amygdala to negative emotional stimuli. Such functional alteration in emotional control may, in part, be attributed to the neural basis of emotional instability during sleep debt.