Age-Related Changes in Sleep-Dependent Emotional Memory

AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN SLEEP-DEPENDENT EMOTIONAL MEMORY

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Sleep; Age; Emotional Valence
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Overnight sleep; Behavioral: Wake

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 80
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, 01003
      • Recruiting
      • University of Massachusetts, Amherst
      • Contact: SomNeuro Laboratory; Phone Number: 413-545-4831; Email: siestalab@gmail.com

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

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

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

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

What is the study measuring?

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

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Rebecca Spencer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Mroczek DK, Kolarz CM. The effect of age on positive and negative affect: a developmental perspective on happiness. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1998 Nov;75(5):1333-49. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.75.5.1333.
• Dalgleish T, Werner-Seidler A. Disruptions in autobiographical memory processing in depression and the emergence of memory therapeutics. Trends Cogn Sci. 2014 Nov;18(11):596-604. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2014.06.010. Epub 2014 Jul 21.
• Ramirez S, Liu X, MacDonald CJ, Moffa A, Zhou J, Redondo RL, Tonegawa S. Activating positive memory engrams suppresses depression-like behaviour. Nature. 2015 Jun 18;522(7556):335-9. doi: 10.1038/nature14514.
• Speer ME, Bhanji JP, Delgado MR. Savoring the past: positive memories evoke value representations in the striatum. Neuron. 2014 Nov 19;84(4):847-56. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.09.028. Epub 2014 Oct 30.
• Baran B, Pace-Schott EF, Ericson C, Spencer RM. Processing of emotional reactivity and emotional memory over sleep. J Neurosci. 2012 Jan 18;32(3):1035-42. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2532-11.2012.
• Jones BJ, Schultz KS, Adams S, Baran B, Spencer RMC. Emotional bias of sleep-dependent processing shifts from negative to positive with aging. Neurobiol Aging. 2016 Sep;45:178-189. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.05.019. Epub 2016 May 27.
• Leigland LA, Schulz LE, Janowsky JS. Age related changes in emotional memory. Neurobiol Aging. 2004 Sep;25(8):1117-24. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2003.10.015.
• Charles ST, Mather M, Carstensen LL. Aging and emotional memory: the forgettable nature of negative images for older adults. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2003 Jun;132(2):310-24. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.132.2.310.
• Mather M, Carstensen LL. Aging and motivated cognition: the positivity effect in attention and memory. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 Oct;9(10):496-502. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.08.005.
• Charles ST, Reynolds CA, Gatz M. Age-related differences and change in positive and negative affect over 23 years. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2001 Jan;80(1):136-51.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 11, 2018
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): May 31, 2020
• Study Completion (Anticipated): May 31, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 24, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 24, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): October 28, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 28, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 24, 2019
• Last Verified: October 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Memory Consolidation; Emotional Memory; Age-Related Positivity Effect
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1R56AG058685-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No