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Zhang J, Wang J, Wang Y, Zhang D, Li H, Lei Y. Sleep deprivation increases the generalization of perceptual and concept-based fear: An fNIRS study. J Anxiety Disord 2024; 105:102892. [PMID: 38889495 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2024.102892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Revised: 05/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024]
Abstract
Insufficient sleep can initiate or exacerbate anxiety by triggering excessive fear generalization. In this study, a de novo paradigm was developed and used to examine the neural mechanisms governing the effects of sleep deprivation on processing perceptual and concept-based fear generalizations. A between-subject design was adopted, wherein a control group (who had a typical night's sleep) and a one-night sleep deprivation group completed a fear acquisition task at 9:00 PM on the first day and underwent a generalization test the following morning at 7:00 AM. In the fear acquisition task, navy blue and olive green were used as perceptual cues (P+ and P-, respectively), while animals and furniture items were used as conceptual cues (C+ and C-, respectively). Generalization was tested for four novel generalized categories (C+P+, C+P-, C-P+, and C-P-). Shock expectancy ratings, skin conductance responses, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy were recorded during the fear acquisition and generalization processes. Compared with the group who had a typical night's sleep, the sleep deprived group showed higher shock expectancy ratings (especially for P+ and C-), increased oxygenated hemoglobin in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and increased activation in the triangular inferior frontal gyrus during the generalization test. These findings suggest that sleep deprivation increases the generalization of threat memories, thus providing insights into the overgeneralization characteristics of anxiety and fear-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Zhang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Jinxia Wang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
| | - Yuanyuan Wang
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Dandan Zhang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China
| | - Hong Li
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Yi Lei
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China.
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González Aroca J, Díaz ÁP, Navarrete C, Albarnez L. Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Are Associated with Pain Intensity and Shoulder Disability in Adults with Chronic Shoulder Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study. J Clin Med 2023; 12:jcm12103376. [PMID: 37240482 DOI: 10.3390/jcm12103376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Shoulder pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal conditions, and for people over 40 years old, it represents the musculoskeletal pain with the greatest impact on quality of life. Psychological factors, such as fear-avoidance beliefs, are associated with musculoskeletal pain, and several studies suggest that they can influence various treatment outcomes. Our objective was to explore the cross-sectional association between fear-avoidance beliefs and shoulder pain intensity and disability in subjects with chronic shoulder pain. A cross-sectional study was conducted, and 208 participants with chronic unilateral subacromial shoulder pain were recruited. The shoulder pain and disability index assessed pain intensity and disability. The Spanish fear-avoidance components scale assessed the presence of fear-avoidance beliefs. The association between fear-avoidance beliefs and pain intensity and disability was analyzed by means of multiple linear regression models and proportional odds models, reporting odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Shoulder and pain disability scores were significantly associated with fear-avoidance beliefs (p < 0.0001, adjusted R-square 0.93, multiple linear regression). There was no evidence of an association between sex and age in this study. The regression coefficient for shoulder pain intensity and disability score was 0.67446. The proportional odds model showed an odds ratio of 1.39 (1.29-1.50) for shoulder pain intensity and disability total score. This study suggests that greater levels of fear-avoidance beliefs are associated with greater levels of shoulder pain and disability in adults with chronic shoulder pain.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Carlos Navarrete
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, University of La Serena, La Serena 1700000, Chile
| | - Loreto Albarnez
- School of Kinesiology, University of La Serena, La Serena 1700000, Chile
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3
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Fear memory in humans is consolidated over time independently of sleep. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023; 23:100-113. [PMID: 36241964 PMCID: PMC9925495 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-01037-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 02/15/2023]
Abstract
Fear memories can be altered after acquisition by processes, such as fear memory consolidation or fear extinction, even without further exposure to the fear-eliciting stimuli, but factors contributing to these processes are not well understood. Sleep is known to consolidate, strengthen, and change newly acquired declarative and procedural memories. However, evidence on the role of time and sleep in the consolidation of fear memories is inconclusive. We used highly sensitive electrophysiological measures to examine the development of fear-conditioned responses over time and sleep in humans. We assessed event-related brain potentials (ERP) in 18 healthy, young individuals during fear conditioning before and after a 2-hour afternoon nap or a corresponding wake interval in a counterbalanced within-subject design. The procedure involved pairing a neutral tone (CS+) with a highly unpleasant sound. As a control, another neutral tone (CS-) was paired with a neutral sound. Fear responses were examined before the interval during a habituation phase and an acquisition phase as well as after the interval during an extinction phase and a reacquisition phase. Differential fear conditioning during acquisition was evidenced by a more negative slow ERP component (stimulus-preceding negativity) developing before the unconditioned stimulus (loud noise). This differential fear response was even stronger after the interval during reacquisition compared with initial acquisition, but this effect was similarly pronounced after sleep and wakefulness. These findings suggest that fear memories are consolidated over time, with this effect being independent of intervening sleep.
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Abstract
Sleep plays a crucial role in the consolidation of memories, including those for fear acquisition and extinction training. This chapter reviews findings from studies testing this relationship in laboratory, naturalistic, and clinical settings. While evidence is mixed, several studies in humans have linked fear and extinction recall/retention to both rapid eye-movement and slow wave sleep. Sleep appears to further aid in the processing of both simulated and actual trauma and improves psychotherapeutic treatment outcomes in those with anxiety and trauma- and stressor-related disorders. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the current challenges facing sleep and emotional memory research in addition to suggestions for improving future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan Bottary
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
- Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Laura D Straus
- Department of Research, San Francisco VA Health Care System, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Edward F Pace-Schott
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA.
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA.
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Pace-Schott EF, Seo J, Bottary R. The influence of sleep on fear extinction in trauma-related disorders. Neurobiol Stress 2022; 22:100500. [PMID: 36545012 PMCID: PMC9761387 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Revised: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), fear and anxiety become dysregulated following psychologically traumatic events. Regulation of fear and anxiety involves both high-level cognitive processes such as cognitive reattribution and low-level, partially automatic memory processes such as fear extinction, safety learning and habituation. These latter processes are believed to be deficient in PTSD. While insomnia and nightmares are characteristic symptoms of existing PTSD, abundant recent evidence suggests that sleep disruption prior to and acute sleep disturbance following traumatic events both can predispose an individual to develop PTSD. Sleep promotes consolidation in multiple memory systems and is believed to also do so for low-level emotion-regulatory memory processes. Consequently sleep disruption may contribute to the etiology of PTSD by interfering with consolidation in low-level emotion-regulatory memory systems. During the first weeks following a traumatic event, when in the course of everyday life resilient individuals begin to acquire and consolidate these low-level emotion-regulatory memories, those who will develop PTSD symptoms may fail to do so. This deficit may, in part, result from alterations of sleep that interfere with their consolidation, such as REM fragmentation, that have also been found to presage later PTSD symptoms. Here, sleep disruption in PTSD as well as fear extinction, safety learning and habituation and their known alterations in PTSD are first briefly reviewed. Then neural processes that occur during the early post-trauma period that might impede low-level emotion regulatory processes through alterations of sleep quality and physiology will be considered. Lastly, recent neuroimaging evidence from a fear conditioning and extinction paradigm in patient groups and their controls will be considered along with one possible neural process that may contribute to a vulnerability to PTSD following trauma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward F. Pace-Schott
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Corresponding author. Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital - East, CNY 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA.
| | - Jeehye Seo
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Korea University, Department of Brain & Cognitive Engineering, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Ryan Bottary
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
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Davidson P, Jönsson P, Johansson M. The association between mnemonic discrimination ability and differential fear learning. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2022; 75:101715. [PMID: 34959001 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2021.101715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2021] [Revised: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 12/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES It is important to be able to learn which stimuli in our surroundings predict aversive outcomes. To maintain emotional well-being, it is similarly important to be able to learn which stimuli predict safety. The ability to discriminate between stimuli that predict danger and safety has been suggested to not only have an emotional component, but also a cognitive one. One such candidate mechanism is mnemonic discrimination (MD), the ability to differentiate between two memories that are similar but not identical. In the present study, we wanted to examine if MD performance helps to explain inter-individual differences in the ability to acquire a differentiated fear response during fear conditioning. METHODS Participants performed a task assessing MD ability, and then underwent a fear conditioning procedure. Fear responses were measured using skin conductance responses (SCRs). RESULTS Results revealed no support for MD ability being associated with to which degree a differentiated fear response was acquired, or with the time needed to acquire such a response. LIMITATIONS Our only outcome measurement was SCRs. Future studies need to include fear ratings, expectancy ratings and neural responses. Future studies also need to examine this using a stimulus material where the conditioned stimulus and the safety stimulus are more difficult to distinguish from each other. CONCLUSIONS If MD ability has a role in inhibiting overgeneralization of fear learning, this does not seem to be driven by MD already during the initial learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Per Davidson
- Department of Psychology, Lund University, Box 213, 221 00, Lund, Sweden; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, CNY 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, CNY 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA.
| | - Peter Jönsson
- School of Education and Environment, Centre for Psychology, Kristianstad University, Elmetorpsvägen 15, 298 88, Kristianstad, Sweden
| | - Mikael Johansson
- Department of Psychology, Lund University, Box 213, 221 00, Lund, Sweden
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Manassero E, Giordano A, Raimondo E, Cicolin A, Sacchetti B. Sleep Deprivation During Memory Consolidation, but Not Before Memory Retrieval, Widens Threat Generalization to New Stimuli. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:902925. [PMID: 35663560 PMCID: PMC9160568 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.902925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Past aversive experiences shape our ability to deal with future dangers, through the encoding of implicit and explicit memory traces and through the ability to generalize defensive reactions to new stimuli resembling learned threats. Numerous evidence demonstrate that sleep is important for the consolidation of memories related to threatening events. However, there is a lack of studies examining the effects of sleep deprivation on the retrieval of consolidated threat memories, and previous studies on the role of sleep in threat generalization have produced mixed results. To address these issues, here we adopted a differential threat conditioning and a delayed (second half of the night) sleep deprivation during the first or the seventh night after learning. We found no effects of sleep deprivation on either implicit or explicit threat memories, regardless of its occurrence timing. Conversely, implicit but not explicit responses to novel cues similar to a learned threat displayed a widened generalization pattern, but only if sleep deprivation took place during the first night after conditioning and not if it occurred during the seventh night after conditioning. Therefore, we propose that sleeping after exposure to danger may support optimal implicit discrimination processes to evaluate new signals in the future and that even a brief period of sleeplessness may widen threat generalization to new stimuli, which is a hallmark of several threat-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugenio Manassero
- Department of Neurosciences “Rita Levi Montalcini”, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Alessandra Giordano
- Sleep Disorder Center, Department of Neurosciences “Rita Levi Montalcini”, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Erika Raimondo
- Sleep Disorder Center, Department of Neurosciences “Rita Levi Montalcini”, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Alessandro Cicolin
- Sleep Disorder Center, Department of Neurosciences “Rita Levi Montalcini”, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Benedetto Sacchetti
- Department of Neurosciences “Rita Levi Montalcini”, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
- *Correspondence: Benedetto Sacchetti,
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Davidson P, Jönsson P, Johansson M. A daytime nap does not increase mnemonic discrimination ability. J Sleep Res 2020; 30:e13128. [PMID: 32557911 DOI: 10.1111/jsr.13128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2019] [Revised: 03/26/2020] [Accepted: 05/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
It has been proposed that sleep readies the brain for novel learning, and previous work has shown that sleep loss impairs the ability to encode new memories. In the present study, we examined if a daytime nap would increase mnemonic discrimination (MD) performance. MD is the ability to differentiate between memories that are similar but not identical. Participants performed the Mnemonic Similarity Task (MST) twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The goal of this task is to distinguish stimuli that have been seen before from novel stimuli that are similar but not identical. After the morning MST, participants were randomly allocated into either a sleep or a wake group. The sleep group had a 2-hr nap opportunity, whereas the wake group spent a similar amount of time passively resting. All participants then performed a second MST in the afternoon with a novel set of images. Results did not show any support for increased MD ability after a nap. There was, however, a correlation showing that an increase in sleepiness between sessions predicted a decrease in MD performance. Future work must systematically examine how strong sleep manipulations that are needed for sleep to have an effect on encoding ability, as well as which kind of memory tasks that are sensitive to sleep manipulations. More knowledge about the relationship between sleep and the ability to differentiate similar memories from each other is important because impaired MD ability has previously been reported in various groups in which sleep disturbances are also common.
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Affiliation(s)
- Per Davidson
- Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.,Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Peter Jönsson
- School of Education of Environment, Centre for Psychology, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden
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9
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Zenses A, Lenaert B, Peigneux P, Beckers T, Boddez Y. Sleep deprivation increases threat beliefs in human fear conditioning. J Sleep Res 2020; 29:e12873. [PMID: 31206861 PMCID: PMC7317468 DOI: 10.1111/jsr.12873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Sleep disturbances and anxiety disorders exhibit high comorbidity levels, but it remains unclear whether sleep problems are causes or consequences of increased anxiety. To experimentally probe the aetiological role of sleep disturbances in anxiety, we investigated in healthy participants how total sleep deprivation influences fear expression in a conditioning paradigm. In a fear conditioning procedure, one face stimulus (conditioned stimulus [CS+]) was paired with electric shock, whereas another face stimulus was not (unpaired stimulus [CS-]). Fear expression was tested the next morning using the two face stimuli from the training phase and a generalization stimulus (i.e. a morph between the CS+ and CS- stimuli). Between fear conditioning and test, participants were either kept awake in the laboratory for 12 hr (n = 20) or had a night of sleep at home (n = 20). Irrespective of stimulus type, subjective threat expectancies, but not skin conductance responses, were enhanced after sleep deprivation, relative to regular sleep. These results suggest that sleep disturbances may play a role in anxiety disorders by increasing perceived threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann‐Kathrin Zenses
- Centre for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental PsychopathologyKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
| | - Bert Lenaert
- School for Mental Health and NeuroscienceFaculty of Health, Medicine and Life SciencesMaastricht UniversityMaastrichtThe Netherlands
- Department of Neuropsychology and PsychopharmacologyFaculty of Psychology and NeuroscienceMaastricht UniversityMaastrichtThe Netherlands
| | - Philippe Peigneux
- UR2NF – Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Group at CRCN – Center for Research in Cognition and NeurosciencesUniversité Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)BrusselsBelgium
- UNI – ULB Neurosciences InstituteUniversité Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)BrusselsBelgium
| | - Tom Beckers
- Centre for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental PsychopathologyKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
| | - Yannick Boddez
- Centre for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental PsychopathologyKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental PsychopathologyUniversity of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
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Martinez-Calderon J, Flores-Cortes M, Morales-Asencio JM, Luque-Suarez A. Pain-Related Fear, Pain Intensity and Function in Individuals With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. THE JOURNAL OF PAIN 2019; 20:1394-1415. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2019.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2018] [Revised: 04/01/2019] [Accepted: 04/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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Davidson P, Pace-Schott E. The role of sleep in fear learning and memory. Curr Opin Psychol 2019; 34:32-36. [PMID: 31568938 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2019] [Revised: 08/06/2019] [Accepted: 08/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
During the last 10 years, a large body of studies have used fear conditioning paradigms to study the role of sleep in the consolidation of fear and safety learning. This line of research could allow us to answer if it is adaptive or not to sleep in the aftermath of a negative experience, and if sleep has a role in consolidating extinction learning. This field has so far produced several contrasting findings. Thus, this review will not deliver many clear conclusions, but will instead be an attempt to summarize what we know at the moment, to describe the potential clinical applications of this research, and to discuss where to go from here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Per Davidson
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Psychology, Lund University, Box 213, 221 00, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Edward Pace-Schott
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
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Tempesta D, Socci V, De Gennaro L, Ferrara M. Sleep and emotional processing. Sleep Med Rev 2018; 40:183-195. [PMID: 29395984 DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2017.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 196] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2017] [Revised: 12/11/2017] [Accepted: 12/13/2017] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
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13
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Davidson P, Carlsson I, Jönsson P, Johansson M. A more generalized fear response after a daytime nap. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2018; 151:18-27. [DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2018.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2017] [Revised: 02/26/2018] [Accepted: 03/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Murkar ALA, De Koninck J. Consolidative mechanisms of emotional processing in REM sleep and PTSD. Sleep Med Rev 2018; 41:173-184. [PMID: 29628334 DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2018.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2017] [Revised: 02/19/2018] [Accepted: 03/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Research suggests sleep plays a role in the consolidation of recently acquired memories for long-term storage. rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has been shown to play a complex role in emotional-memory processing, and may be involved in subsequent waking-day emotional reactivity and amygdala responsivity. Interaction of the hippocampus and basolateral amygdala with the medial-prefrontal cortex is associated with sleep-dependent learning and emotional memory processing. REM is also implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is characterized by sleep disturbance, heightened reactivity to fearful stimuli, and nightmares. Many suffers of PTSD also exhibit dampened medial-prefrontal cortex activity. However, the effects of PTSD-related brain changes on REM-dependent consolidation or the notion of 'over-consolidation' (strengthening of memory traces to such a degree that they become resistant to extinction) have been minimally explored. Here, we posit that (in addition to sleep architecture changes) the memory functions of REM must also be altered in PTSD. We propose a model of REM-dependent consolidation of learned fear in PTSD and examine how PTSD-related brain changes might interact with fear learning. We argue that reduced efficacy of inhibitory medial-prefrontal pathways may lead to maladaptive processing of traumatic memories in the early stages of consolidation after trauma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony L A Murkar
- School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada; The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research affiliated with the University of Ottawa, Canada.
| | - Joseph De Koninck
- School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada; The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research affiliated with the University of Ottawa, Canada.
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