Alcohol misuse is associated with sleep disturbance and cognitive dysfunction. However, the neural processes inter-relating the severity of alcohol use, sleep disturbance and cognitive performance remain under-investigated. We addressed this issue with a dataset of 964 subjects (504 women) curated from the Human Connectome Project. Participants were assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and fMRI while identifying relational dimension pictures and matching dimension pictures (as a control) in alternating blocks. Imaging data were analyzed with published routines and the results were evaluated at a corrected threshold. Subjects showed lower accuracy rate and longer reaction time (RT) in relational than control blocks. The difference in RT between the two blocks (RT_Rel-Con) was driven primarily by the RT and correlated positively with performance accuracy of relational trials, suggesting that a more cautious response (i.e., longer RT_Rel-Con) improved accuracy. The severity of alcohol use, identified from principal component analysis of drinking metrics, was positively correlated with sleep disturbance. Further, whole-brain regression identified activity of the superior colliculus (SC) during relational vs. control blocks in positive and negative correlation with RT_Rel-Con and PSQI score, respectively. Mediation and path analyses demonstrated a significant model: more severe alcohol use → greater sleep disturbance → diminished SC activity → impaired performance. These findings support the influences of alcohol misuse on sleep and suggest neural correlates that mediate the relationship between sleep disturbance and altered sustained attention in young adults.

酒精滥用与睡眠障碍和认知功能障碍有关。然而，与酒精使用严重程度、睡眠障碍和认知表现之间相互关联的神经过程仍未得到充分研究。我们使用来自 Human Connectome 项目的 964 名受试者（504 名女性）的数据集解决了这个问题。参与者使用匹兹堡睡眠质量指数 (PSQI) 和 fMRI 进行评估，同时在交替块中识别相关维度图片和匹配维度图片（作为对照）。使用已发布的例程分析成像数据，并在校正阈值下评估结果。与对照块相比，受试者在相关方面表现出较低的准确率和较长的反应时间 (RT)。两个块之间的 RT 差异（RT _Rel-Con) 主要由 RT 驱动，并与相关试验的性能准确性呈正相关，这表明更谨慎的响应（即更长的 RT _Rel-Con）提高了准确性。从饮酒指标的主成分分析中确定的饮酒严重程度与睡眠障碍呈正相关。此外，全脑回归确定了上丘 (SC) 在关系块与控制块期间的活动，与 RT _{Rel-Con呈正相关和负相关}和 PSQI 分数，分别。中介和路径分析展示了一个重要的模型：更严重的酒精使用 → 更大的睡眠障碍 → SC 活动减少 → 表现受损。这些发现支持酒精滥用对睡眠的影响，并提出了调节睡眠障碍与年轻人持续注意力改变之间关系的神经相关性。