Electroencephalography (EEG) has been widely used to study the relationship between naps and working memory, yet the effects of naps on distinct working memory tasks remain unclear. Here, participants performed word-pair and visuospatial working memory tasks pre- and post-nap sessions. We found marked differences in accuracy and reaction time between tasks performed pre- and post-nap. In order to identify the impact of naps on performance in each working memory task, we employed clustering to classify participants as high- or low-performers. Analysis of sleep architecture revealed significant variations in sleep onset latency and rapid eye movement (REM) proportion. In addition, the two groups exhibited prominent differences, especially in the delta power of the Non-REM 3 stage linked to memory. Our results emphasize the interplay between nap-related neural activity and working memory, underlining specific EEG markers associated with cognitive performance.

翻译：脑电图（EEG）已被广泛用于研究午睡与工作记忆之间的关系，然而午睡对不同工作记忆任务的具体影响仍不明确。本研究参与者分别在午睡前后完成了词汇配对和视觉空间工作记忆任务。我们发现，午睡前后任务在准确率和反应时间上存在显著差异。为识别午睡对每项工作记忆任务表现的影响，我们采用聚类方法将参与者分为高表现组和低表现组。睡眠结构分析显示，入睡潜伏期和快速眼动（REM）比例存在显著变化。此外，两组在记忆相关的非快速眼动3期δ波功率方面表现出突出差异。我们的研究结果强调了午睡相关神经活动与工作记忆之间的相互作用，突出了与认知表现相关的特定EEG指标。