Emotional bias of sleep-dependent processing shifts from negative to positive with aging.

ABSTRACT: Age-related memory decline has been proposed to result partially from impairments in memory consolidation over sleep. However, such decline may reflect a shift toward selective processing of positive information with age rather than impaired sleep-related mechanisms. In the present study, young and older adults viewed negative and neutral pictures or positive and neutral pictures and underwent a recognition test after sleep or wake. Subjective emotional reactivity and affect were also measured. Compared with waking, sleep preserved valence ratings and memory for positive but not negative pictures in older adults and negative but not positive pictures in young adults. In older adults, memory for positive pictures was associated with slow wave sleep. Furthermore, slow wave sleep predicted po

SUBMITTER: Jones BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4975995 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature