Balmeet Toor, Nicholas van den Berg, Laura B Ray, Stuart M Fogel
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
As we age, the added benefit of sleep for memory consolidation is lost. One of the hallmark age-related changes in sleep is the reduction of sleep spindles and slow waves. Gray matter neurodegeneration is related to both age-related changes in sleep and age-related changes in memory, including memory for problem-solving skills. Here, we investigated whether spindles and slow waves might serve as biological markers for neurodegeneration of gray matter and for the related memory consolidation deficits in older adults. Forty healthy young adults (20-35 yr) and 30 healthy older adults (60-85 yr) were assigned to either nap or wake conditions. Participants were trained on the Tower of Hanoi in the morning, followed by either a 90-min nap opportunity or period of wakefulness, and were retested afterward. We found that age-related changes in sleep spindles and slow waves were differentially related to gray matter intensity in young and older adults in brain regions that support sleep-dependent memory consolidation for problem-solving skills. Specifically, we found that spindles were related to gray matter in neocortical areas (e.g., somatosensory and parietal cortex), and slow waves were related to gray matter in the anterior cingulate, hippocampus, and caudate, all areas known to support problem-solving skills. These results suggest that both sleep spindles and slow waves may serve as biological markers of age-related neurodegeneration of gray matter and the associated reduced benefit of sleep for memory consolidation in older adults.
期刊介绍:
The neurobiology of learning and memory is entering a new interdisciplinary era. Advances in neuropsychology have identified regions of brain tissue that are critical for certain types of function. Electrophysiological techniques have revealed behavioral correlates of neuronal activity. Studies of synaptic plasticity suggest that some mechanisms of memory formation may resemble those of neural development. And molecular approaches have identified genes with patterns of expression that influence behavior. It is clear that future progress depends on interdisciplinary investigations. The current literature of learning and memory is large but fragmented. Until now, there has been no single journal devoted to this area of study and no dominant journal that demands attention by serious workers in the area, regardless of specialty. Learning & Memory provides a forum for these investigations in the form of research papers and review articles.