Completed projects

Memory consolidation during sleep in adolescents with an anxiety disorder

Based on the late maturation of the prefrontal cortex during adolescence, this developmental phase presumably represents a time of increased vulnerability in which psychiatric disorders associated with prefrontal changes can originate. In addition to prefrontal changes, people with an anxiety disorder often show sleep disorders and altered memory formation processes (Alfano & Gamble, Child and Youth Care Forum 2009; Gregory et al., Sleep 2009). For example, anxiety patients are characterized by a clear bias for remembering negative, autobiographical events, while positive experiences are increasingly forgotten (Coles and Heimberg, Clinical Psychology Review 2002). The neuronal mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of an anxiety disorder in early development are still largely unknown.

Sleep - and in particular the slow waves in deep sleep (below 4.5 Hz) - have repeatedly been linked to neuronal plasticity (Kurth et al., Neuroimage 2012; Huber et al., Nature 2004; Marshall et al., Nature 2006). For example, it has been repeatedly shown that sleep has a direct influence on the storage and processing of emotional events (Wagner et al., Learning & Memory 2001). One possible mechanism underlying the sleep-dependent storage of memory content is the reactivation of this content during subsequent sleep. Furthermore, it is assumed that slow-wave EEG activity during sleep is not only a marker for the maturation of brain regions, but may be actively involved in the process of cortical maturation (Kurth et al., Neuroimage 2012; Campbell & Feinberg, Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A 2009). Against this background, in this study we are investigating the relationship between sleep, the maturation of the prefrontal cortex and the storage of emotional content in healthy and anxious children, adolescents and adults. In addition, we are testing whether the storage of positive emotional memory content can be modulated by reinforcing reactivation processes during sleep.

Publications:

Widespread reduction in sleep spindle activity in socially anxious children and adolescents - ScienceDirect

Targeted Reactivation during Sleep Differentially Affects Negative Memories in Socially Anxious and Healthy Children and Adolescents | Journal of Neuroscience (jneurosci.org)