Age-Related Changes in Sleep-Dependent Emotional Memory

NCT04141722 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: 1R56AG058685-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 80
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

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.

Conditions

Sleep; Age; Emotional Valence

Keywords

Emotional Memory; Memory Consolidation; Age-Related Positivity Effect

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Memory bias

  Corrected recognition of positive versus negative pictures

  12 hr delay between encoding and recognition test

Study Arms (2)

Sleep

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Overnight sleep

Wake

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: Wake

Interventions

Overnight sleep BEHAVIORAL

Participant sent home to sleep overnight wearing PSG.

Sleep

Wake BEHAVIORAL

Participant sent to go about normal daily routine, instructed not to nap, drink caffeine, or engage in strenuous exercise.

Wake

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• 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

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Massachusetts, Amherst: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, United States

RECRUITING

Related Publications (10)

• 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.

  PMID: 25060510 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 26085274 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 25451197 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 22262901 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 27459938 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 15212836 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 12825643 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 16154382 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 11195886 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 9866191 BACKGROUND

Study Officials

• Rebecca Spencer

  University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Rebecca Spencer

CONTACT

(413) 545-5987; rspencer@psych.umass.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 24, 2019
• First Posted: October 28, 2019
• Study Start: December 11, 2018
• Primary Completion: May 31, 2020
• Study Completion: May 31, 2020
• Last Updated: October 28, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-10

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)