Selective effects of sleep on emotional memory: What mechanisms are responsible?

Bennion, Kelly A.; Payne, Jessica D.; Kensinger, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.1037/tps0000019

Cited by 47 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 76 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Regarding sleep-specific mechanisms, if a specific quantity/quality of slow-wave sleep is necessary for any memory consolidation to occur, then no nap duration will benefit older adults' memory if the slow-wave sleep requirement is not met. Regarding cognitive processing mechanisms, if memory consolidation requires that new learning becomes associated with a "tag" of future relevance during encoding, 51 and if older adults demonstrate associative encoding deficits, 46 then it is possible that older adults will not consolidate memories without successful associative "tagging" at encoding. Regarding neurophysiological mechanisms, there are several brain regions (eg, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus) and neuromodulators (eg, dopamine, acetylcholine) that are hypothesized to be critical to successful memory consolidation, but it is also known that these neurophysiological mechanisms decline with aging.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of an Afternoon Nap on Episodic Memory in Young and Older Adults

Scullin

Fairley

Decker

et al. 2017

Sleep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Study Objectives: In young adults, napping is hypothesized to benefit episodic memory retention (eg, via consolidation). Whether this relationship is present in older adults has not been adequately tested but is an important question because older adults display marked changes in sleep and memory. Design: Between-subjects design. Setting: Sleep laboratory at Emory University School of Medicine. Participants: Fifty healthy young adults (18-29) and 45 community-dwelling older adults (58-83). Intervention: Participants were randomly assigned to a 90-minute nap opportunity or an equal interval of quiet wakefulness. Measurements and Results: Participants underwent an item-wise directed forgetting learning procedure in which they studied words that were individually followed by the instruction to "remember" or "forget." Following a 90-minute retention interval filled with quiet wakefulness or a nap opportunity, they were asked to free recall and recognize those words. Young adults retained significantly more words following a nap interval than a quiet wakefulness interval on both free recall and recognition tests. There was modest evidence for greater nap-related retention of "remember" items relative to "forget" items for free recall but not recognition. Older adults' memory retention did not differ across nap and quiet wakefulness conditions, although they demonstrated greater fragmentation, lower N3, and lower rapid eye movement duration than the young adults. Conclusions: In young adults, an afternoon nap benefits episodic memory retention, but such benefits decrease with advancing age.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of an Afternoon Nap on Episodic Memory in Young and Older Adults

Scullin

Fairley

Decker

et al. 2017

Sleep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There is ample evidence that sleep helps to consolidate long-term memories (e.g., PaceSchott, Germain, & Milad, 2015), especially during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep (McDevitt, Duggan, & Mednick, 2014) and especially with regard to goal-relevant features (Bennion, Payne, & Kensinger, 2015). It now appears that periods of spontaneous thinking confer a similar, albeit weaker, consolidation benefit.…”

Section: Consolidation Of Memoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous Thought and Goal Pursuit: From Functions such as Planning to Dysfunctions such as Rumination

Klinger¹,

Marchetti

Koster³

2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spontaneous thoughts occur by default in the interstices between directed, generally taskoriented thoughts or moments of perceptual scrutiny. Their contents are overwhelmingly related to thinkers' current goals, either directly or indirectly via associative networks, including to past and tentative future goals. They are triggered by ambient goal-related stimuli or segments of own thought. Most spontaneous thought segments are very brief, a matter of seconds, but may be much longer. Their typical brevity generally permits wide variation in content, reflecting the individual's current agenda of goals. Their evocation is accompanied by emotional responses that vary widely in type, valence, and intensity. These properties of the emotional accompaniments probably determine which content area receives priority for thought. Given these properties of thought flow, spontaneous thoughts are highly adaptive as (1) reminders of the individual's larger agenda of goals while occupied with pursuing any one of them, (2) promotion of planning for future goal pursuits, (3) review and deeper understanding of past goalrelated experiences, and (4) development of creative solutions to problems in goal pursuit. In the face of threats to successful pursuit of important goals or the prospect of failure, the same 2 mechanisms may occasion repetitive but unproductive thoughts about the pursuit, the consequences of the failure, or the self, and strong negative emotions steering the train of thought may lead to narrowing of its focus, thus producing rumination. The disposition to ruminate is in part a function of states of negative affect and individual differences such as strength of focus on particular thought themes, momentum of particular emotional states, and neuroticism. Rumination is a common occurrence during low mood or outright depression that accompanies the process of disengaging from goal pursuits that have become unrealistic or overly expensive. The typically reduced interest in alternative goals during this phase further limits the range of thought content and the individual's resources for re-engagement with gratifying goal pursuits. For assessment and clinical purposes, spontaneous thought content can potentially provide information not captured by other procedures. When an individual's spontaneous thoughts are themselves problematic, empirically validated methods for improving the individual's motivational structure provide a likely best treatment strategy.[354 words]

show abstract

“…And, there is good reason to think so: In young adults, sleep restriction/deprivation triggers acute difficulties with cognitive functions such as attention, mood, memory, and creativity [19, 20]. Sleep loss increases susceptibility to the common cold [21], alters gene expression [22], and affects metabolism [23].…”

Section: Theories Of Whether Older Adults Need Sleepmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Older Adults Need Sleep? A Review of Neuroimaging, Sleep, and Aging Studies

Scullin

2017

Curr Sleep Medicine Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose of Review Sleep habits, sleep physiology, and sleep disorders change with increasing age. However, there is a longstanding debate regarding whether older adults need sleep to maintain health and daily functioning (reduced-sleep-need view). An alternative possibility is that all older adults need sleep, but that many older adults have lost the ability to obtain restorative sleep (reduced-sleep-ability view). Prior research using behavioral and polysomnography outcomes has not definitively disentangled the reduced-sleep-need and reduced-sleep-ability views. Therefore, this review examines the neuroimaging literature to determine whether age-related changes in sleep cause—or are caused by—age-related changes in brain structure, function, and pathology. Recent Findings In middle-aged and older adults, poorer sleep quality, greater nighttime hypoxia, and shorter sleep duration related to cortical thinning in frontal regions implicated in slow wave generation, in frontoparietal networks implicated in cognitive control, and in hippocampal regions implicated in memory consolidation. Furthermore, poor sleep quality was associated with higher amyloid burden and decreased connectivity in the default mode network, a network that is disrupted in the pathway to Alzheimer’s disease. Summary All adults need sleep, but cortical thinning and amyloidal deposition with advancing age may weaken the brain’s ability to produce restorative sleep. Therefore, sleep in older adults may not always support identical functions for physical, mental, and cognitive health as in young adults.

show abstract

Selective effects of sleep on emotional memory: What mechanisms are responsible?

Cited by 47 publications

References 76 publications

The Effects of an Afternoon Nap on Episodic Memory in Young and Older Adults

The Effects of an Afternoon Nap on Episodic Memory in Young and Older Adults

Spontaneous Thought and Goal Pursuit: From Functions such as Planning to Dysfunctions such as Rumination

Do Older Adults Need Sleep? A Review of Neuroimaging, Sleep, and Aging Studies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About