1,721,112 research outputs found
The role of sleep in the formation and updating of abstract mental representations
No full textAccording to Gilead and colleagues, to be efficient abstraction requires a hierarchical organization of information into long-term memory. But, how and when are abstract representations consolidated into long-term memory and how are they integrated with pre-existing abstracta are questions not discussed by Gilead and colleagues. Here, we propose that these processes occur preferentially during offline periods such as sleep
Plan Cordillerano, Informe Final, Zona Las Cuevas. Área de Reserva N°9 Provincia de Mendoza, República Argentina
No full textFil: Cellini, N. Ministerio de Defensa. Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares; Argentina - Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarroll
The Effect of One Night of Sleep on Mnemonic Discrimination of Emotional Information
Full text linkMnemonic discrimination is the process of separating similar but distinct experiences and memories in the brain. This process seems to be differently modulated by retention periods that included sleep or only wakefulness. The current study was designed to explore whether a night of sleep may modulate emotional mnemonic discrimination. Thirty-eight participants performed the encoding phase of an emotional mnemonic similarity task composed of 48 negative, 48 neutral, and 48 positive pictures at 9 am (Wake group) or 9 pm (Sleep group). The encoding was followed by an immediate test (T1) in which participants were exposed to 36 targets (old), 36 foils (new), and 36 lures (similar) pictures, and they had to decide whether the pictures were old, new, or similar. Twelve hours later, they performed a delayed test (T2), similar to T1 but with different stimuli. Overall, performances decreased from T1 to T2. There were no differences between groups for recognition memories, whereas the reduction in mnemonic discrimination was more pronounced in the Wake group. Moreover, negative pictures were better discriminated that the neutral and positive ones. In conclusion, the current study showed that a night of sleep can stabilize mnemonic discrimination, regardless of the valence of the encoded stimuli, suggesting that sleep may not preferentially process emotional information
Lifetime prevalence and characteristics of sleep paralysis in Italian university students population
Full text link: Sleep paralysis (SP) is a REM-related parasomnia, characterized by the inability to perform voluntary movements. It is a relatively widespread phenomenon in the general population and, although usually not dangerous, it is experienced with intense fear. The current study aims to evaluate the lifetime prevalence and characteristics of SP in the Italian student population. The study was conducted online, through an online battery of questionnaires. We used the Unusual Sleep Experience Questionnaire to investigate the prevalence of the disorder and the typical characteristics, metacognitive beliefs on the episodes, and previous distress factors. We also collected information about anxiety and depression symptomatology, sleep quality, and circadian preferences. Four hundred and thirty-two participants (333 F, 22.8 ± 2.57 y) took part in the study and 37.5 % of them reported having experienced at least one SP episode in their lifetime. On a physiological level, the most common features were the inability to speak followed by a tingling sensation and the inability to open the eyes, consistent with REM muscle atonia. Cognitive features during episodes include the perception of a presence in the room, followed by the fear of dying. Participants who reported SP had higher anxiety and worse sleep quality, and were more associated with evening chronotypes compared to non-SP responders. Our results show that SP is generally widespread in Italian students, in line with the prevalence reported in previous studies. Further studies could investigate the effects of suggested therapies to decrease the number of episodes of the disorder, especially in those who experience it recurrently
Editorial: The Interplay Between Sleep and Emotion: What Role Do Cognitive Processes Play?
Full text linkL'editoriale spiega le ragioni che hanno spinto gli autori a proporre la Topical Collection dal titolo "The Interplay Between Sleep and Emotion: What Role Do Cognitive Processes Play?" e descrive i vari contributi raccolti
Sleeping over moral dilemmas modulates utilitarian decision-making
Full text linkMoral decision-making depends on the interaction between emotional and cognitive control processes, which are also affected by sleep. Here we aimed to assess the potential role of sleep in the modulation of moral decisions over time by testing the change in behavioral responses to moral dilemmas over time (1 week). Thirty-five young adults were tested twice, with one week between the sessions. In each session, participants were presented with 24 sacrificial (12 Footbridge- and 12 Trolley-type) and 6 everyday-type moral dilemmas. In sacrificial dilemmas, participants had to choose whether or not to kill one person to save more people (utilitarian choice), to judge how morally acceptable the proposed solution was, and how they felt in terms of valence and arousal during the decision. In everyday-type dilemmas, they had to decide whether to pursuit moral violations involving dishonest behavior. Between the sessions, the participants’ sleep pattern was assessed via actigraphy. We observed that participants reduced the utilitarian choices in the second session, and this effect was more pronounced for the Trolley-type dilemmas. We also showed that after a week participants judged the utilitarian choices as less morally acceptable, but there was no change in self-reported emotional reactivity (i.e., valence, and arousal). Moreover, sleep efficiency was mildly negatively associated with the changes in decision choices and moral acceptability for the Footbridge-type dilemmas. Taken together, our data suggest that dealing with a moral situation engages several interacting factors that seem to go beyond the competing roles of cognitive and emotional processes
Perceptual and motor congruency effects in time-space association
No full textIt is well established that temporal events are represented on a spatially oriented mental time line from left to right. Depending on the task characteristics, the spatial representation of time may be linked to different types of dimensions, including manual response codes and physical space codes. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether manual response and physical space codes are independent of each other or whether they interact when both types of information are involved in the task. The participants performed a temporal estimation task with two lateralized response buttons in four experiments. In the first experiment, the target stimuli were presented on the left side, at the center, or on the right side of the space, whereas the reference stimuli were always presented centrally. The reverse situation was presented in the second experiment. In the third experiment, both stimuli were presented in opposite spatial positions (e.g., left-right), whereas in the last experiment, both stimuli were presented in the same spatial position (e.g., left-left). In all experiments, perceptual and motor congruency effects were found, but no modulation of the congruency effects was found when both the perceptual and motor components were congruent. The results indicated that physical, spatial, and manual response codes are independent from each other for time-space associations, even when both codes are involved in the task. These results are discussed in terms of the "intermediate-coding" account
The mechanisms of space-time association: comparing motor and perceptual contributions in time reproduction
No full textThe spatial-temporal association indicates that time is represented spatially along a left-to-right line. It is unclear whether the spatial-temporal association is mainly related to a perceptual or a motor component. In addition, the spatial-temporal association is not consistently found using a time reproduction task. Our rationale for this finding is that, classically, a non-lateralized button for performing the task has been used. Using two lateralized response buttons, the aim of the study was to find a spatial-temporal association in a time reproduction task. To account for the perceptual component, reference and target stimuli were presented in different spaces through four experiments. In all experiments, a Spatial-Temporal Association of Response Codes (STEARC) effect was found and this effect was not modulated by the spatial position of both reference and target stimuli. The results suggested that the spatial-temporal association was mainly derived from the spatial information provided by response buttons, reflecting a motor but not visuospatial influence
Editorial: Long-term effects of COVID-19 pandemic on sleep and their relationships with mental health
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