Acoustic closed-loop stimulation during sleep improves consolidation of reward-related memory information in healthy children but not in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
- 8 February 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Sleep
- Vol. 43 (8)
- https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaa017
Abstract
Slow oscillations (SO) during slow-wave sleep foster the consolidation of declarative memory. Children with ADHD display deficits in the sleep-associated consolidation of declarative memory, possibly due to an altered function of SO. The present study aimed at enhancing SO activity using closed-looped acoustic stimulation during slow wave sleep in children with ADHD. Twenty nine male children (14 with ADHD; aged 8-12 yrs.) participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study trial. Children spent two experimental nights in a sleep lab, one stimulation night and one sham night. A declarative learning task (word-pair learning) with a reward condition was used as primary outcome. Secondary outcome variables were a procedural memory (serial reaction time) and working memory (n-back) task. Encoding of declarative and procedural memory took place in the evening before sleep. After sleep, the retrieval took place followed by the n-back task. The stimulation successfully induced SO activity during sleep in children with and without ADHD. After stimulation, only healthy children performed better on high-rewarded memory items (primary outcome). In contrast, there were indications that only children with ADHD benefitted from the stimulation with respect to procedural as well as working memory performance (secondary outcome). We were able to show that the acoustic closed-loop stimulation can be applied to enhance SO activity in children with and without ADHD. Our data indicate that SO activity during sleep interacts with subsequent memory performance (primary outcome: rewarded declarative memory, secondary outcome: procedural and working memory) in children with and without ADHD.Keywords
Funding Information
- German Research Foundation
- Sonderforschungsbereich
This publication has 77 references indexed in Scilit:
- Extreme Learning Machine-Based Classification of ADHD Using Brain Structural MRI DataPLOS ONE, 2013
- The Impact of Financial Reward Contingencies on Cognitive Function Profiles in Adult ADHDPLOS ONE, 2013
- Sleep Promotes Consolidation of Emotional Memory in Healthy Children but Not in Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity DisorderPLOS ONE, 2013
- Moderators of working memory deficits in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A meta-analytic reviewClinical Psychology Review, 2012
- Sleep Supports Selective Retention of Associative Memories Based on Relevance for Future UtilizationPLOS ONE, 2012
- Can Motivation Normalize Working Memory and Task Persistence in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder? The Effects of Money and Computer-GamingJournal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2011
- Sleep Selectively Enhances Memory Expected to Be of Future RelevanceJournal of Neuroscience, 2011
- Cortical Development in Typically Developing Children With Symptoms of Hyperactivity and Impulsivity: Support for a Dimensional View of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity DisorderAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 2011
- Mapping of Cortical Activity in the First Two Decades of Life: A High-Density Sleep Electroencephalogram StudyJournal of Neuroscience, 2010
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is characterized by a delay in cortical maturationProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007