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Is Habitual Sleep Duration an Important Factor for Face Recognition Memory in Young Adults? A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Sleep is integral to the process of maintenance and restoration of physical as well as mental health encompassing intelligence, memory as well as emotions. Face recognition memory is a special form of memory that gives the ability to remember people meaningfully and is instrumental in any individual’s meaningful coexistence in the society. Aim: To determine if different habitual sleep durations may be associated with difference in unfamiliar face recognition memory and if there are any gender differences in the same, among young healthy individuals. Materials and Methods: This was an observational analytic cross-sectional study conducted over a month in B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, including 98 healthy young volunteers (39 females and 59 males) among 1st year students of different professional courses. The participants were subjected to a questionnaire-based interview followed by a face recognition test based on Parkin’s recognition memory test (1995). Mean values and Standard Deviations (SD) were calculated for age, sleep duration, correct and wrong responses in the test and statistical significance was tested by applying t-test with a significance level of p<0.05. Results: The participants were grouped as average-duration (6.6±0.5 hours/day) and long-duration (8.4±1.0 hours/day) sleepers, 53 and 45 in number, respectively, and there was a significant difference in the sleep duration of the two groups (p=8.6×10-17). No significant difference was seen in the number of correct (p=0.08795) and incorrect (p=0.42205) responses of average-duration sleepers and the long-duration sleepers. Gender differences in correct and incorrect responses of average-duration and long-duration sleepers were also not significant. But there was a significant difference in the number of correct responses by females and males, in general. Conclusion: Habitual duration of sleep may not affect face recognition memory in the young ages.