Targeted memory reactivation in REM but not SWS selectively reduces arousal responses

Hutchison, Isabel C.; Pezzoli, Stefania; Tsimpanouli, Maria-Efstratia; Abdellahi, Mahmoud E. A.; Pobric, Gorana; Hulleman, Johann; Lewis, Penelope A.

doi:10.1038/s42003-021-01854-3

Cited by 26 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This diverges from a study where odorbound TMR attenuated amygdala response toward a similar stressor (Wassing et al, 2019a). While an obvious difference from our study was their use of odors instead of sounds, TMR-enhanced affective habituation has also been shown using sounds (He et al, 2015;Hutchison et al, 2021). The properties of our TMR procedure probably underlie the negative results.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 98%

“…The nominal level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. In TMR piloting we focused on effect sizes, expecting large η 2 (>0.14), based on estimates from previous findings (Wassing et al, 2019a ; Hutchison et al, 2021 ). Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 27.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the potential of TMR during SWS on declarative memory improvement is acknowledged (Hu et al, 2020), attempts to enhance affective habituation with REMS-linked TMR are emerging. In a recent study, sound-cued TMR during REMS promoted the habituation of subjective arousal responses toward negative images (Hutchison et al, 2021). Another study focused on negative self-conscious emotion, having the participants listen to a recording of their own out-of-tune singing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-Conscious Affect Is Modulated by Rapid Eye Movement Sleep but Not by Targeted Memory Reactivation–A Pilot Study

et al. 2021

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The neurophysiological properties of rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) are believed to tune down stressor-related emotional responses. While prior experimental findings are controversial, evidence suggests that affective habituation is hindered if REMS is fragmented. To elucidate the topic, we evoked self-conscious negative affect in the participants (N = 32) by exposing them to their own out-of-tune singing in the evening. Affective response to the stressor was measured with skin conductance response and subjectively reported embarrassment. To address possible inter-individual variance toward the stressor, we measured the shame-proneness of participants with an established questionnaire. The stressor was paired with a sound cue to pilot a targeted memory reactivation (TMR) protocol during the subsequent night's sleep. The sample was divided into three conditions: control (no TMR), TMR during slow-wave sleep, and TMR during REMS. We found that pre- to post-sleep change in affective response was not influenced by TMR. However, REMS percentage was associated negatively with overnight skin conductance response habituation, especially in those individuals whose REMS was fragmented. Moreover, shame-proneness interacted with REM fragmentation such that the higher the shame-proneness, the more the affective habituation was dependent on non-fragmented REMS. In summary, the potential of REMS in affective processing may depend on the quality of REMS as well as on individual vulnerability toward the stressor type.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 98%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-Conscious Affect Is Modulated by Rapid Eye Movement Sleep but Not by Targeted Memory Reactivation–A Pilot Study

et al. 2021

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“…One study compared TMR during REM with TMR during SWS and found no main effects or interactions with either emotion or during which kind of sleep TMR was applied. 98…”

Section: Pharmacological Manipulations Of Sleepmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Sleep Selectively Strengthen Certain Memories Over Others Based on Emotion and Perceived Future Relevance?

Davidson¹,

Jönsson²,

Carlsson³

et al. 2021

NSS

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Sleep has been found to have a beneficial effect on memory consolidation. It has furthermore frequently been suggested that sleep does not strengthen all memories equally. The first aim of this review paper was to examine whether sleep selectively strengthens emotional declarative memories more than neutral ones. We examined this first by reviewing the literature focusing on sleep/wake contrasts, and then the literature on whether any specific factors during sleep preferentially benefit emotional memories, with a special focus on the often-suggested claim that rapid eye movement sleep primarily consolidates emotional memories. A second aim was to examine if sleep preferentially benefits memories based on other cues of future relevance such as reward, test-expectancy or different instructions during encoding. Once again, we first focused on studies comparing sleep and wake groups, and then on studies examining the contributions of specific factors during sleep (for each future relevance paradigm, respectively). The review revealed that although some support exists that sleep is more beneficial for certain kinds of memories based on emotion or other cues of future relevance, the majority of studies does not support such an effect. Regarding specific factors during sleep, our review revealed that no sleep variable has reliably been found to be specifically associated with the consolidation of certain kinds of memories over others based on emotion or other cues of future relevance.

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“…While the benefits of applying TMR during non-REM (NREM) sleep have been established across many studies, results are more inconsistent when cueing occurs during REM sleep, due probably to the predominance of nap studies (containing no or only short periods of REM sleep) ( 34 ). TMR during REM sleep enhanced memory ( 35 , 36 ), including associative emotional memory and generalization ( 37 ) [contrary to SWS; Ashton, Cairney ( 38 )], while it increased positive valence of negative stimuli ( 39 , 40 ) and reduced emotional arousal ( 41 ). Therefore, using TMR during REM sleep could be an efficient method to enhance extinction memory consolidation and improve inhibition learning, which is lacking in individuals presenting anxiety disorders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Targeted Memory Reactivation During REM Sleep in Patients With Social Anxiety Disorder

et al. 2022

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BackgroundSocial anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by a significant amount of fear when confronted to social situations. Exposure therapy, which is based on fear extinction, does not often lead to full remission. Here, based on evidence showing that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep promotes the consolidation of extinction memory, we used targeted memory reactivation (TMR) during REM sleep to enhance extinction learning in SAD.MethodsForty-eight subjects with SAD were randomly assigned to two groups: control or TMR group. All patients had two successive exposure therapy sessions in a virtual reality (VR) environment, where they were asked to give a public talk in front of a virtual jury. At the end of each session, and only in the TMR group (N = 24), a sound was paired to the positive feedback phase of therapy (i.e., approval of their performance), which represented the memory to be strengthened during REM sleep. All participants slept at home with a wearable headband device which automatically identified sleep stages and administered the sound during REM sleep. Participants' anxiety level was assessed using measures of parasympathetic (root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats, RMSSD) and sympathetic (non-specific skin conductance responses, ns-SCRs) activity, and subjective measures (Subjective Units of Distress Scale, SUDS), during the preparation phase of their talks before (T1) and after (T2) one full-night's sleep and after 1 week at home (T3). Participants also filled in a dream diary.ResultsWe observed an effect of time on subjective measures of anxiety (SUDS). We did not find any difference in the anxiety levels of the two groups after 1 week of TMR at home. Importantly, the longer the total duration of REM sleep and the more stimulations the TMR group had at home, the less anxious (increased RMSSD) these participants were. Finally, fear in dreams correlated positively with ns-SCRs and SUDS at T3 in the TMR group.ConclusionTMR during REM sleep did not significantly modulate the beneficial effect of therapy on subjective anxiety. Yet, our results support that REM sleep can contribute to extinction processes and substantiate strong links between emotions in dreams and waking stress levels in these patients.

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Targeted memory reactivation in REM but not SWS selectively reduces arousal responses

Cited by 26 publications

References 35 publications

Self-Conscious Affect Is Modulated by Rapid Eye Movement Sleep but Not by Targeted Memory Reactivation–A Pilot Study

Self-Conscious Affect Is Modulated by Rapid Eye Movement Sleep but Not by Targeted Memory Reactivation–A Pilot Study

Does Sleep Selectively Strengthen Certain Memories Over Others Based on Emotion and Perceived Future Relevance?

Targeted Memory Reactivation During REM Sleep in Patients With Social Anxiety Disorder

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