The impact of 24-hour sleep deprivation on attention networks in individuals with short-video addiction

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of 24-hour sleep deprivation on attention network performance in college students with short-video addiction. METHODS: Based on the screening criteria of the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI) and the modified Internet Addiction Test (IAT), 34 college students in the short-video addiction group and 37 college students in the control group were selected after screening. Both groups completed the Attention Network Test (ANT) before and after sleep deprivation. Reaction time and accuracy were recorded, and alerting, orienting, and executive control effects were calculated. In addition, inverse efficiency score (IES) was calculated to comprehensively evaluate task performance. RESULTS: No significant main effect of group, main effect of time, or group × time interaction was observed for reaction time under any of the five conditions. Accuracy results showed that the control group had overall higher accuracy than the addiction group, and both groups showed decreased accuracy after sleep deprivation, but the interaction was not significant. Analysis of effect scores showed that the addiction group had significantly lower alerting and orienting effects than the control group; the orienting effect showed a significant main effect of time; and the executive control effect showed a significant main effect of time as well as a significant group × time interaction. Inverse efficiency scores (IES) analysis showed that only the incongruent condition had a significant main effect of time. CONCLUSION: The short-video addiction group showed behavioral patterns on attention network-related indices that differed from those of the control group, mainly reflected in weaker benefits from alerting and orienting cues and higher executive control conflict cost. After sleep deprivation, the orienting effect decreased and the executive control conflict cost increased, with the addiction group showing more obvious behavioral changes in executive control-related indices. This study provides preliminary behavioral evidence for understanding the potential attention risks related to short-video addiction and insufficient sleep.