The relationship between sleep, emotion and aging
The effect of valence on sleep-dependent processing of emotional memory and reactivity in older adults
Research suggests aging may be accompanied by preferential processing of positive versus negative information. Sleep benefits emotional memories and has been shown to modulate emotional reactivity. However, whether sleep interacts with the "positivity effect" observed in older individuals remains unknown. The current project examined the effect of valence on sleep-dependent consolidation of emotional memory and reactivity in older adults.
Healthy older (50-80 yrs) adults viewed either positive and neutral pictures (Positive condition) or negative and neutral pictures (Negative condition) in either the morning (Wake groups) or evening (Sleep groups) and rated each image on indices of emotional reactivity. Twelve hours later, participants performed a recognition memory task and rated the images again. The Sleep groups underwent overnight polysomnography. In the Negative condition, sleep had no effect on memory recognition for either negative or neutral images. However, in the Positive condition, sleep benefited both positive and neutral memories, p
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