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Emotional bias of sleep-dependent processing shifts from negative to positive with aging - PubMed

Emotional bias of sleep-dependent processing shifts from negative to positive with aging

Bethany J Jones et al. Neurobiol Aging. 2016 Sep.

Abstract

Age-related memory decline has been proposed to result partially from impairments in memory consolidation over sleep. However, such decline may reflect a shift toward selective processing of positive information with age rather than impaired sleep-related mechanisms. In the present study, young and older adults viewed negative and neutral pictures or positive and neutral pictures and underwent a recognition test after sleep or wake. Subjective emotional reactivity and affect were also measured. Compared with waking, sleep preserved valence ratings and memory for positive but not negative pictures in older adults and negative but not positive pictures in young adults. In older adults, memory for positive pictures was associated with slow wave sleep. Furthermore, slow wave sleep predicted positive affect in older adults but was inversely related to positive affect in young adults. These relationships were strongest for older adults with high memory for positive pictures and young adults with high memory for negative pictures. Collectively, these results indicate preserved but selective sleep-dependent memory processing with healthy aging that may be biased to enhance emotional well-being.

Keywords: Affect; Aging; Consolidation; Emotional bias; Memory; Sleep.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1

Experimental design and procedure. A, Encoding took place either in the evening (sleep groups) or the morning (wake groups), followed by Recognition 12 hrs later. Sleep groups underwent PSG overnight. B, During Encoding participants viewed 60 pictures (targets) and rated the valence and arousal of each on 9-point Likert-type scales. During Recognition, participants viewed 180 pictures, a mixture of target and novel foil pictures, and rated each one on valence and arousal. Participants indicated whether or not they recognized the picture by responding yes/no.

Figure 2
Figure 2

Influence of sleep and wake on negative and neutral memory and valence in older adults and young adults. A, Average percent of correctly recognized target pictures (hit rate). B, Average inter-session change in valence ratings. Valence was rated on a 9-point Likert-type scale: 1=most negative, 5=neutral, 9=most positive. A positive change in valence indicates ratings became less negative. Error bars represent standard errors of means. Asterisks indicate significant (p<0.05) differences. Graphs on the right are adapted from Baran et al. (2012).

Figure 3
Figure 3

Influence of sleep and wake on positive and neutral memory and valence for older adults and young adults. A, Average percent of correctly recognized target pictures (hit rate).

B, Average inter-session change in valence ratings (see Fig. 2 caption). Error bars represent standard errors of means. Asterisks indicate significant (p<0.05) differences.
Figure 4
Figure 4

Relationships between sleep and positive memory and valence in older adults. A, Correlation between the percentage of the first quarter of the night spent in SWS (SWS1%) and hit rate for positive pictures in older adults. B, Correlation between the percentage of the third quarter of the night spent in REM sleep (REM3%) and the change in valence for positive relative to neutral pictures in older adults.

Figure 5
Figure 5

Relationships between sleep and affect in young and older adults. A, Relationships between the percent of time spent in SWS and the ratio of positive to negative affect in session 2. B, Interactions between percent of time spent in SWS and memory (hit rate) in predicting the session 2 ratio of positive to negative affect in older and young adults.

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