Sleep and Cognition Laboratory (SCL)

The Sleep and Cognition Laboratory (SCL), formerly called the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory is a multidisciplinary research team that is dedicated to improving human cognitive performance, health and wellbeing through is research on the benefits of sleep on cognition and conversely the neurobehavioral effects of sleep loss or fragmentation. Alongside, we seek to better understand how sleep can be optimized to improve cognitive aging. Check us out on

Recent publication: 13 July 2021 New research paper published in Scientific Reports - A longitudinal analysis of COVID-19 lockdown stringency on sleep and resting heart rate measures across 20 countries. During COVID-19 lockdown, objective sleep and resting-heart rate were measured across 20 countries and in over 100,000 users of a consumer sleep tracker. These measurements were compared to an equivalent period of time in 2019. With lockdown measures, midsleep times were universally delayed, particularly on weekdays, while midsleep variability and resting heart rate declined. These were correlated with the severity of lockdown across the different countries. View full article

Commentary: Revenge bedtime procrastination in Singapore is coming at a cost Revenge bedtime procrastination (when people feel the need to reclaim time for themselves before sleep, in order to free themselves from the demands of their jobs) can be harmful for physical and mental health, says Prof. Michael Chee and Dr. Stijn Massar. Read more here. Recent publication: 2 June 2021 New research paper published in npj Digital Medicine - Trait-like nocturnal sleep behavior identified by combining wearable, phone-use, and self-report data. In order to characterize habitual sleep behavior over 2 months, we integrated the use of a consumer sleep tracker, smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment, and user-phone interactions. We found that contrary to being problematic, discrepant data across measurement modalities facilitated the identification of interindividual differences in sleep behavior. View full article Advisory on Junior College Students Seeking Interviews for Opinions on Teen Sleep, The Problem of Adolescent Sleep Deprivation (10 May 2021) Thank you for your interest in sleep adequacy in this very important demographic. Due to overwhelming number of requests and work priorities, Prof. Chee will regretfully cease granting any direct student interviews. Students interested in gathering opinions are instead directed to examine the extensive collection of commentaries, academic papers, podcasts, interviews and media appearances on this website. Can schools and parents help boost the cognition and well-being of sleep-deprived Singaporean teenagers? Why sleep habits need to be formed when young Cognition in school going students and sleep You may credit Prof. Chee with quotes taken from these sources. If you wish to write about âstarting school laterâ or âreconfiguring time-use in the post COVID-19 era or you have a question that is not answered by review of our posted and linked material, you may write to [email protected] Recent publication: 2 May 2021 New research paper published in NeuroImage - Respiratory, cardiac, EEG, BOLD signals and functional connectivity over multiple microsleep episodes. Falling asleep is common in fMRI studies. By using long eyelid closures to detect microsleep onset, we showed that the onset and termination of short sleep episodes invokes a systematic sequence of BOLD signal changes that are large, widespread, and consistent across different microsleep durations. View full article 2021 Virtual Singapore Sleep Symposium: 27 April Speakers across Singapore gathered for 'The A-B-Zzz of Sleep in Singapore: A Life Span Perspective'. This symposium was brought to you by the Centre for Sleep and Cognition (CSC) and chaired by Prof. Michael Chee. Archived talks can be accessed here. Recent publication: 23 March 2021 New research paper published in SLEEP - Sleep-dependent prospective memory consolidation is impaired with aging. Existing literature suggests that sleep-dependent memory consolidation is impaired in older adults but may be preserved for personally relevant information. Prospective memory (PM) involves remembering to execute future intentions in a timely manner and has behavioral importance. As previous work suggests that N3 sleep is important for PM in young adults, we investigated if the role of N3 sleep in PM consolidation would be maintained in older adults. View full article Channel NewsAsia: Daily scheduled naps improve learning and memory Prof. Michael Chee speaks to Channel NewsAsia about the benefits of daily scheduled napping, following study findings. Naps were found to improve learning and memory in adolescents, even when sufficient overnight sleep was achieved. Click below to watch the full video. The Sleep and Metabolism Study We are looking for healthy NUS students residing in Prince George's Park Residences for our new study! Check out the video below to find out how you can get free catered meals and earn up to $450. Interested in taking part? Click the link below to visit our sign up page. Sign up here! Recent publication: 5 March 2021 New research paper published in Scientific Reports - Splitting sleep between the night and a daytime nap reduces homeostatic sleep pressure and enhances longâterm memory. Daytime naps have been linked with enhanced memory encoding and consolidation. It remains unclear how a daily napping schedule impacts learning throughout the day, and whether these effects are the same for well-rested and sleep restricted individuals. View full article Recent publication: 1 March 2021 New research paper published in Psychology and Aging - Schema-Driven Memory Benefits Boost Transitive Inference in Older Adults. Age-related cognitive deficits may be diminished by tapping into prior knowledge structures. We investigated age-related differences in the formation and updating of schemas and examined whether the memory benefits of recently acquired schemas would be preserved in older adults. View full article Recent publication: 15 February 2021 New research paper published in Nature and Science of Sleep - Multi-Night Validation of a Sleep Tracking Ring in Adolescents Compared with a Research Actigraph and Polysomnography. Wearable devices have tremendous potential for large-scale longitudinal measurement of sleep, but their accuracy needs to be validated. We compared the performance of the multisensor Oura ring (Oura Health Oy, Oulu, Finland) to polysomnography (PSG) and a research actigraph in healthy adolescents. View full article

ISC Global Webinar Series. Prof. Michael Chee gave the inaugural keynote for the International Sleep Charity (ISC) Global Webinar Series where he discussed: i) the motivation for the Need for Sleep studies; ii) how different sleep restriction schedules affect fundamental cognitive processes in adolescents; and iii) the benefits of a 60-90 minute afternoon nap. Watch the video here.

Commentary: Singapore has kept COVID-19 off campuses. This has been achieved with the help of projects such as Singapore Spacer as well as the collective efforts of campus communities. Prof. Michael Chee speaks to the New York Times on this subject. Read the full NYT article here. The Centre for Sleep and Cognitionâs Annual Report for 2020 Featuring the centreâs mission, research highlights, and recent achievements.

The full report can be accessed here. A look back on 2020 Curious as to what 2020 was like for the lab? Play this video to see. Recent publication: 12 December 2020 New research paper published in SLEEP - Memory performance following napping in habitual and non-habitual nappers. We compared habitual and non-habitual nappers and their performance on a range of memory tasks following either a nap or wake period. It was found that naps were especially beneficial for habitual nappers performing a short-term topographical memory task, however napping was overall beneficial for long-term memory tasks even if one did not habitually nap. View full article Recent publication: 11 September 2020 New research paper published in SLEEP - COVID-19-related mobility reduction: heterogenous effects on sleep and physical activity rhythms. During the COVID-19 lockdown periods, we collected wearable data from working adults in order to characterise how COVID-19 associated mobility restrictions changed sleep and physical activity patterns, compared to before the lockdown periods. View full article Recent publication: 3 July 2020 New research paper published in SLEEP - Cognitive effects of split and continuous sleep schedules in adolescents differ according to total sleep opportunity. The results of Need for Sleep 5 are published! We compared the basic cognitive functions of adolescents undergoing split (nocturnal sleep + daytime nap) and continuous nocturnal sleep schedules when total sleep opportunity was either below or within the recommended range (i.e. 6.5 or 8 h). View full article Podcast: The Only Thing Your Wearable Sleep Tracker Is Good For Fitbit sleep trackers made the cash register ring 16 million times in 2019, according to one report. But how much of the sleep data is actually usable? Dr. Michael Chee says there is one nugget of data from a wearable sleep tracker that you can depend on, and that deals with whether thereâs an overall trend. Sleep staging? Nope. Sleep quality? Nope. Sleep duration? Yeah, kinda. Click here to give it a listen.

Commentary: Immobility during COVID-19 and its effects on our sleep, physical activity and well-being COVID-19 has changed the way we work, play and sleep. There are different strategies to better cope, says Yong Loo Lin School of Medicineâs Michael Chee. Read more here.

x Commentary: Not enough time? Transforming work and sleeping better in a digital world Transforming current work and study habits to allow for more sleep and more efficient time use will result in better cognitive performance, wellbeing and health, says Yong Loo Lin School of Medicineâs Michael Chee. Read more here.