Sleep-dependent motor sequence memory consolidation in individuals with periodic limb movements

The effect of complex cognitive training on subsequent night sleep

“…In sum, our results suggest that the administration at bedtime of a complex cognitive task resembling real‐life learning processes may be useful to improve subjective sleep quality and objective sleep features. In agreement with previous data on young (Arzilli et al, 2019; Sergeeva et al, 2017) and older adults (Conte et al, 2012; Haimov & Shatil, 2013), these findings also encourage to further consider ecological pre‐sleep training sessions as a feasible and easily accessible complementary approach in standard therapies for sleep‐disordered populations.…”

“…Thus, our findings add to previous literature on post‐training sleep changes (Arzilli et al, 2019; Conte et al, 2012; Haimov & Shatil, 2013; Sergeeva et al, 2017) by showing that nighttime sleep quality (both objective and subjective) in habitual bad sleepers may be improved through an ecological task. Although our sample is not clinical, our results suggest the interesting possibility, to be addressed in future studies, that the same improvements could be obtained in clinical populations.…”

“…Also, reductions in sleep fragmentation (i.e. frequency of awakenings) were found after the administration of both procedural and declarative tasks in subjects with periodic limb movements (Sergeeva, Viczko, Ray, Owen, & Fogel, 2017), as well as after performing a declarative task in elderly individuals (Conte, Carobbi, Errico, & Ficca, 2012). In the latter study, the pre‐sleep declarative task also improved sleep stability, indexed by the frequency of state transitions and arousals, and sleep organization, i.e.…”

Sleep enhances strategic thinking at the expense of basic procedural skills consolidation

“…Although the limited sample size (and relative low power for a correlational analysis) necessitates caution in the interpretation of this result, the observed associations support the importance of sleep continuity, especially that of slow wave sleep (SWS), for off‐line memory reprocessing. This finding is in line with previous data suggesting that an undisturbed sleep episode is required for consolidation to proceed effectively (Arzilli et al, 2019; Cerasuolo et al, 2019; Conte, Carobbi, Errico, & Ficca, 2012; Kirov, Kolev, Verleger, & Yordanova, 2015; Sergeeva, Viczko, Ray, Owen, & Fogel, 2017) and with studies indicating an involvement of SWS in memory reorganization processes (Durrant et al, 2011; Yordanova, Kolev, Wagner, & Verleger, 2009). However, considering the multi‐componential nature of the task, it is not possible to interpret these correlations as indicating the involvement of SWS continuity in the consolidation of a specific cognitive skill activated by the task.…”

Sleep continuity, stability and organization in good and bad sleepers

“…While judgements on a specific sleep episode would be mainly based on its consciously perceived features (such as sleep duration, WASO or depth), overall ratings on one's habitual sleep quality could be more dependent on the perception of impairments in daytime functioning, caused by subtle sleep fragmentation even in absence of gross sleep alterations. In line with this, increasing evidence supports the importance, for the efficiency of memory processes, of sleep continuity (Arzilli et al, 2019;Conte et al, 2012;Sergeeva et al, 2017;Van Liempt et al, 2011), stability (Aricò et al, 2010Arzilli et al, 2019;Conte et al, 2012;Sergeeva et al, 2017) and cyclic organization (Conte et al, 2012;Ficca et al, 2000).…”