Summary At a time when several studies have highlighted the relationship
between sleep, learning and memory processes, an in-depth analysis of the effects
of sleep deprivation on student learning ability and academic performance would
appear to be essential. Most studies have been naturalistic correlative investigations,
where sleep schedules were correlated with school and academic achievement.
Nonetheless, some authors were able to actively manipulate sleep in order to
observe neurocognitive and behavioral consequences, such as learning, memory
capacity and school performance. The findings strongly suggest that: (a) students of
different education levels (from school to university) are chronically sleep deprived
or suffer from poor sleep quality and consequent daytime sleepiness; (b) sleep
quality and quantity are closely related to student learning capacity and academic
performance; (c) sleep loss is frequently associated with poor declarative and
procedural learning in students; (d) studies in which sleep was actively restricted or
optimized showed, respectively, a worsening and an improvement in neurocognitive
and academic performance. These results may been related to the specific
involvement of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in vulnerability to sleep loss. Most
methodological limitations are discussed and some future research goals are
suggested.
& 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.