Title: Greater sleep variance related to decrements in memory performance and event-specific neural similarity: a racially/ethnically diverse lifespan sample
Successful memory performance depends on overlap between neural representations at encoding and retrieval. With older age, neural similarity, memory performance, and sleep quality decline. Regardless of age, racial/ethnic minorities tend to experience poor sleep, which may contribute to poor memory. Previous studies have not investigated memory performance, neural similarity, sleep quality, and age in diverse participants. Here, we recruited racially/ethnically diverse adults across the lifespan and examined night-to-night sleep quality in relation to memory performance and encoding-retrieval similarity. We employed item-specific, representational similarity analysis (not confounded by effort, word perception, or differences in electroencephalography signal amplitude) to assess neural similarity for intact and recombined paired associates. Greater sleep variance and poorer memory performance were more strongly associated with older age. Interestingly, sleep variance was positively associated with neural similarity for intact pairs. This relationship was stronger with younger age and for racial/ethnic minorities. For recombined pairs, greater sleep variance was associated with reduced neural similarity. Thus, varied sleep may induce greater reliance on familiarity, while consistent sleep may support recollection. more »« less
Hokett, Emily; Duarte, Audrey(
, Current Sleep Medicine Reports)
AbstractPurpose of Review
We highlight evidence within the last 5 years of racial and ethnic differences in sleep-memory associations and explore potential causes and treatments of poor sleep in minoritized racial and ethnic groups.
Recent Findings
Emerging research suggests that memory performance in Black adults may be more sensitive to sleep quality than in White adults. Sleep quality and sleep duration are also associated with memory performance in other minoritized racial and ethnic groups, including Asian and Hispanic adults. However, comparisons between groups are scarce.
Summary
Poor sleep is associated with poor memory outcomes in minoritized racial and ethnic groups. Social determinants of health, including racism-related stress, discrimination, and neighborhood conditions, may contribute to these associations. More experimental and epidemiology research is needed to fully understand the relationship between sleep and memory performance in minoritized racial and ethnic groups. We conclude with suggested future directions for sleep and memory research.
Hill, Paul F; King, Danielle R; Rugg, Michael D(
, Cerebral Cortex)
Abstract Age-related reductions in neural selectivity have been linked to cognitive decline. We examined whether age differences in the strength of retrieval-related cortical reinstatement could be explained by analogous differences in neural selectivity at encoding, and whether reinstatement was associated with memory performance in an age-dependent or an age-independent manner. Young and older adults underwent fMRI as they encoded words paired with images of faces or scenes. During a subsequent scanned memory test participants judged whether test words were studied or unstudied and, for words judged studied, also made a source memory judgment about the associated image category. Using multi-voxel pattern similarity analyses, we identified robust evidence for reduced scene reinstatement in older relative to younger adults. This decline was however largely explained by age differences in neural differentiation at encoding; moreover, a similar relationship between neural selectivity at encoding and retrieval was evident in young participants. The results suggest that, regardless of age, the selectivity with which events are neurally processed at the time of encoding can determine the strength of retrieval-related cortical reinstatement.
Introduction Stress in relation to the Coronavirus disease 19 pandemic (i.e., COVID-19, COVID stress) may be linked with poor sleep quality. The association between stress that is specific to the COVID-19 pandemic and sleep quality has been understudied, particularly in racially diverse people across the adult lifespan. Here, we investigated self-reported sleep quality in relation to COVID stress and factors that may protect against experiencing poor sleep quality from high COVID stress, including social support and religiosity. Method We recruited non-Hispanic Black ( n = 73) and non-Hispanic White ( n = 178) participants across the adult lifespan (18–76 years) using an online, cross-sectional design during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2021–June 2021). We asked participants to report information regarding demographics (age, race/ethnicity, years of education), sleep (sleep quality, sleep habits), and positive (social support, religious activities) and negative (events of discrimination, depression, general stress, COVID stress) psychosocial factors. Results Across age and racial groups, better sleep habits were associated with better sleep quality, and higher COVID stress was linked to poorer sleep quality. Black participants reported higher quality sleep than White participants ( p = 0.006). They also endorsed greater private and internal religiosity ( p’s < 0.001). Across racial groups, moderation analyses revealed a protective effect of religiosity against poor sleep ( p’s < 0.006). Specifically, individuals with high religious activity and high COVID stress did not experience poor sleep quality, but individuals with low religious activity and high COVID stress demonstrated poor sleep quality. These results remained significant when controlling for general stress. Discussion Protective factors, such as religiosity, may mitigate the negative associations between high COVID stress and poor sleep quality.
Carlson, Elyse J.; Wilckens, Kristine A.; Wheeler, Mark E.; Lipsitz, ed., Lewis A.(
, The Journals of Gerontology: Series A)
Abstract
Adequate sleep is essential for healthy physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning, including memory. However, sleep ability worsens with increasing age. Older adults on average have shorter sleep durations and more disrupted sleep compared with younger adults. Age-related sleep changes are thought to contribute to age-related deficits in episodic memory. Nonetheless, the nature of the relationship between sleep and episodic memory deficits in older adults is still unclear. Further complicating this relationship are age-related changes in circadian rhythms such as the shift in chronotype toward morningness and decreased circadian stability, which may influence memory abilities as well. Most sleep and cognitive aging studies do not account for circadian factors, making it unclear whether age-related and sleep-related episodic memory deficits are partly driven by interactions with circadian rhythms. This review will focus on age-related changes in sleep and circadian rhythms and evidence that these factors interact to affect episodic memory, specifically encoding and retrieval. Open questions, methodological considerations, and clinical implications for diagnosis and monitoring of age-related memory impairments are discussed.
Gao, Chenlu; Scullin, Michael K(
, Psychosomatic Medicine)
We investigated the factors that predispose or precipitate greater intra-individual variability (IIV) in sleep. We further examined the potential consequences of IIV to overall sleep quality and health outcomes, including whether these relationships were found in both self-reported and actigraphy-measured sleep IIV. In Study 1, 699 US adults completed a Sleep Intra-Individual Variability questionnaire and self-reported psychosocial, sleep quality, and health outcomes. In Study 2, 100 university students wore actigraphy and completed psychosocial, sleep, and health surveys at multiple timepoints. In cross-sectional analyses that controlled for mean sleep duration, predisposing/precipitating factors to greater IIV were being an under-represented racial/ethnic minority, having greater stress or trait vulnerability to stress, and showing poorer time management. In addition, both studies showed that greater sleep IIV was associated with decreased overall sleep quality, independent of mean sleep duration. Concordance across subjective and objective IIV measures was modest and similar to concordance observed for subjective-objective mean sleep duration measures. Risk for irregular sleep patterns is increased in specific demographic groups and may be precipitated by, or contribute to, higher stress and time management inefficiencies. Irregular sleep may lead to poor sleep quality and adverse health outcomes, independent of mean sleep duration, underscoring the importance of addressing sleep consistency.
Hokett, E, Mirjalili, S, and Duarte, A. Greater sleep variance related to decrements in memory performance and event-specific neural similarity: a racially/ethnically diverse lifespan sample. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10453062. Neurobiology of aging 117.
Hokett, E, Mirjalili, S, & Duarte, A. Greater sleep variance related to decrements in memory performance and event-specific neural similarity: a racially/ethnically diverse lifespan sample. Neurobiology of aging, 117 (). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10453062.
Hokett, E, Mirjalili, S, and Duarte, A.
"Greater sleep variance related to decrements in memory performance and event-specific neural similarity: a racially/ethnically diverse lifespan sample". Neurobiology of aging 117 (). Country unknown/Code not available. https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10453062.
@article{osti_10453062,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {Greater sleep variance related to decrements in memory performance and event-specific neural similarity: a racially/ethnically diverse lifespan sample},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10453062},
abstractNote = {Successful memory performance depends on overlap between neural representations at encoding and retrieval. With older age, neural similarity, memory performance, and sleep quality decline. Regardless of age, racial/ethnic minorities tend to experience poor sleep, which may contribute to poor memory. Previous studies have not investigated memory performance, neural similarity, sleep quality, and age in diverse participants. Here, we recruited racially/ethnically diverse adults across the lifespan and examined night-to-night sleep quality in relation to memory performance and encoding-retrieval similarity. We employed item-specific, representational similarity analysis (not confounded by effort, word perception, or differences in electroencephalography signal amplitude) to assess neural similarity for intact and recombined paired associates. Greater sleep variance and poorer memory performance were more strongly associated with older age. Interestingly, sleep variance was positively associated with neural similarity for intact pairs. This relationship was stronger with younger age and for racial/ethnic minorities. For recombined pairs, greater sleep variance was associated with reduced neural similarity. Thus, varied sleep may induce greater reliance on familiarity, while consistent sleep may support recollection.},
journal = {Neurobiology of aging},
volume = {117},
author = {Hokett, E and Mirjalili, S and Duarte, A},
}
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