Sleep Deprivation Selectively Impairs Interpersonal Trust in Different Social Scenarios: Evidence from the Social Mindfulness Paradigm.

BACKGROUND

Sleep deprivation (SD) is widely recognized for its negative impact on both cognitive abilities and social interactions. Nonetheless, the effect of sleep deprivation on interpersonal trust in social scenarios is poorly understood.

PURPOSE: This study investigated the impact of total sleep deprivation on interpersonal trust under two different social scenarios: kindness and unkindness.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

All participants (N = 49) completed the Social Mindfulness paradigm (SoMi) after both normal sleep (NS) and SD. Alertness changes were assessed using the Psychomotor Vigilance test (PVT) and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS).

RESULTS

Our results demonstrated that SD significantly impaired interpersonal trust when perceiving unkind intentions but did not affect trust in kind intentions (p < 0.05). Additionally, this detrimental effect was not related to changes in alertness (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that SD selectively impacts interpersonal trust, and this effect is not influenced by simple cognitive functions such as alertness. Further research could incorporate brain imaging techniques to explore the association of other cognitive and affective factors with interpersonal trust after sleep loss.