Age-Related Changes in Sleep-Dependent Emotional Memory

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Memory influences emotional well being. Research has shown that having a negative emotional bias contributes to both emotion dysregulation and depression. Conversely, reactivating positive memories has been shown to reduce stress and symptoms of depression. In young adults, sleep is widely implicated in emotional processing, including consolidation of emotional memories. Evidence suggests that aging is associated with changes in emotion, including a positive memory bias and enhanced emotional well-being. These changes have been termed the age-related positivity effect. However, the influence of sleep on these measures has not been investigated in healthy older individuals. The objective of this research is to understand the role of sleep in emotional memory consolidation and emotional well-being across adulthood. We hypothesize that sleep contributes to the age-related positivity effect in memory and affect. Our alternative hypothesis is that age-related decreases in sleep are responsible for reduced emotional memory processing over healthy aging.

Official Title
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AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN SLEEP-DEPENDENT EMOTIONAL MEMORY

Conditions
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Sleep, Age, Emotional Valence

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Overnight sleep
* Behavioral: Wake


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: 18-30 or 50-80 years of age Have no history of a sleep disorder Have no history of neurological disease or injury Have no history of psychiatric illness (anxiety or mood disorder, schizophrenia, etc.) No history of chemotherapy Not be taking medications which effect sleep Habitually sleep more than 6 or more hours per night Be able to walk freely and independently Have normal to corrected-to-normal vision

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 80 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Sleep<br> | Behavioral: Overnight sleep<br>* Participant sent home to sleep overnight wearing PSG.<br>|
| Experimental: Wake<br> | Behavioral: Wake<br>* Participant sent to go about normal daily routine, instructed not to nap, drink caffeine, or engage in strenuous exercise.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Memory bias | Corrected recognition of positive versus negative pictures | 12 hr delay between encoding and recognition test | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Emotional Memory, Memory Consolidation, Age-Related Positivity Effect