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REM sleep's role in emotional memory changes in middle age

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 3:00 – 5:00 pm, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Kristin E. G. Sanders¹ (ksande22@nd.edu), Mia F. Utayde¹, Elizabeth A. Kensinger², Jessica D. Payne¹; ¹University of Notre Dame, ²Boston College

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep is associated with the selective preservation of emotional, especially negative, memory in young adults. Much less is known about whether this relationship is preserved with age when both sleep and memory change. While emotional memory and REM sleep are relatively preserved with age, older adults often show a positivity bias, and a few studies have linked this shift with sleep processes. However, whether the relationship between sleep and emotional memory is preserved or changes in middle age is unknown with limited research finding mixed results. In the current study, participants (18-59 years old) were tested on their memory for the components of negative and neutral scenes after a night of sleep while undergoing EEG recording, or a typical day awake. We found that while age was associated with worse memory overall, the relative prioritization of negative compared to neutral information was preserved in middle age. However, while younger adults showed the expected positive relationship between REM sleep and negative memory, middle-aged adults' REM sleep was associated with better neutral memory. The relationship was driven by the most-positively-rated neutral scenes and no such relationship emerged with deep sleep. Together these results suggest REM sleep may begin to shift toward prioritizing positive information in middle age but that this shift precedes the behavioral changes in emotional memory consolidation that may emerge later in life.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Development & aging