Impairment of executive functions due to sleep alterations: An integrative review on the use of P300.

Objective: Cognitive impairment due to sleep deprivation (SD) is an important global health concern as part of the growing rates of sleep disorders and sleep deprivation worldwide. Amongst the affected cognitive processes, the effects of SD on the executive functions (EFs) show diverse methods and inconclusive or contradictory results, highlighting the importance of further research in this field. Considering this scenario, we evaluate one of the most used methods for objectively evaluating EFs on SD: the event-related potential (ERP) P300.

Neural Correlates of Aging-Related Differences in Pro-active Control in a Dual Task.

Multi-tasking is usually impaired in older people. In multi-tasking, a fixed order of sub-tasks can improve performance by promoting a time-structured preparation of sub-tasks. How proactive control prioritizes the pre-activation or inhibition of complex tasks in older people has received no sufficient clarification so far.

My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares?

Nightmares are defined as repeated occurrences of extremely dysphoric and well-remembered dreams that usually involve subjective threats to survival, security, or physical integrity. Generally, they occur during rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) and lead to awakenings with distress and insufficient overnight sleep. Nightmares may occur spontaneously (idiopathic) or as recurrent nightmares.

Dynamic coupling between slow waves and sleep spindles during slow wave sleep in humans is modulated by functional pre-sleep activation.

Co-existent sleep spindles and slow waves have been viewed as a mechanism for offline information processing. Here we explored if the temporal synchronization between slow waves and spindle activity during slow wave sleep (SWS) in humans was modulated by preceding functional activations during pre-sleep learning. We activated differentially the left and right hemisphere before sleep by using a lateralized variant of serial response time task (SRTT) and verified these inter-hemispheric differences by analysing alpha and beta electroencephalographic (EEG) activities during learning.

Sleep Spindles in the Right Hemisphere Support Awareness of Regularities and Reflect Pre-Sleep Activations.

Study Objectives: The present study explored the sleep mechanisms which may support awareness of hidden regularities.

Methods: Before sleep, 53 participants learned implicitly a lateralized variant of the serial response-time task in order to localize sensorimotor encoding either in the left or right hemisphere and induce implicit regularity representations. Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded at multiple electrodes during both task performance and sleep, searching for lateralized traces of the preceding activity during learning.

Opposite Impact of REM Sleep on Neurobehavioral Functioning in Children with Common Psychiatric Disorders Compared to Typically Developing Children.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has been shown to be related to many adaptive cognitive and behavioral functions. However, its precise functions are still elusive, particularly in developmental psychiatric disorders. The present study aims at investigating associations between polysomnographic (PSG) REM sleep measurements and neurobehavioral functions in children with common developmental psychiatric conditions compared to typically developing children (TDC).

Increased Performance Variability as a Marker of Implicit/Explicit Interactions in Knowledge Awareness.

Only some, but not all, individuals who practice tasks with dual structure, overt and covert, are able to comprehend consciously a hidden regularity. The formation of implicit representations of regularity has been proposed to be critical for subsequent awareness. However, explicit knowledge also has been predicted by the activation of executive control systems during task encoding.

Poor Sleep Is Related to Lower Emotional Competence Among Adolescents.

The aim of the present study was to explore the association between subjective insomnia and self-reported emotional competence in areas such as regulating and perceiving one's own emotions and empathy, in a sample of adolescents. Gender differences were also explored. 366 adolescents in 10th to 12th grade (mean age: M = 16.

Labile sleep promotes awareness of abstract knowledge in a serial reaction time task.

Sleep has been identified as a critical brain state enhancing the probability of gaining insight into covert task regularities. Both non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep have been implicated with offline re-activation and reorganization of memories supporting explicit knowledge generation. According to two-stage models of sleep function, offline processing of information during sleep is sequential requiring multiple cycles of NREM and REM sleep stages.

Perfectionism related to self-reported insomnia severity, but not when controlled for stress and emotion regulation.

Background: Perfectionism is understood as a set of personality traits such as unrealistically high and rigid standards for performance, fear of failure, and excessive self-criticism. Previous studies showed a direct association between increased perfectionism and poor sleep, though without taking into account possible mediating factors. Here, we tested the hypothesis that perfectionism was directly associated with poor sleep, and that this association collapsed, if mediating factors such as stress and poor emotion regulation were taken into account.

High self-perceived exercise exertion before bedtime is associated with greater objectively assessed sleep efficiency.

Objective: To assess the association between self-perceived exercise exertion before bedtime and objectively measured sleep.

Methods: Fifty-two regularly exercising young adults (mean age, 19.70 years; 54% females) underwent sleep electroencephalographic recordings 1.

RETRACTED: Electroconvulsive therapy and aerobic exercise training increased BDNF and ameliorated depressive symptoms in patients suffering from treatment-resistant major depressive disorder.

Background: To treat patients suffering from treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (TR-MDD), research has focused on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and aerobic exercise training (AET). Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) seems to be key in MDD. The aims of the present study were therefore two-fold, to investigate in a three-arm interventional study the differential effects of ECT, ECT plus AET, and AET alone in patients suffering from TR-MDD on 1.

In a randomized case-control trial with 10-years olds suffering from attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) sleep and psychological functioning improved during a 12-week sleep-training program.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that sleep training would improve emotional, social and behavioural functioning in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared to children with ADHD without such intervention and to healthy controls.

Methods: Forty children with ADHD were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions. Parents of 20 children with ADHD were instructed and thoroughly supervised in improving their children's sleep schedules and sleep behaviour.

Sleep problems and their effect in ADHD.

Sleep problems are common in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to the extent that they mimic or exacerbate daytime symptoms expression. In this review, we advocate the need for a better understanding of sleep alterations in youths with ADHD and their impact on neurobehavioral functions including learning, memory and emotional regulation. An in-depth exploration of existing data showed that although extensively studied, the actual nature of sleep problems in ADHD and their effects on daytime behavior are still less well understood.

REM sleep and dreaming functions beyond reductionism.

Brain activation patterns and mental, electrophysiological, and neurobiological features of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep suggest more functions than only elaborative encoding. Hence, the periodic occurrence of REM sleep episodes and dreaming may be regarded as a recurrent adaptive interference, which incorporates recent memories into a broader vital context comprising emotions, basic needs and individual genetic traits.

"Sleep well, our tough heroes!"--in adolescence, greater mental toughness is related to better sleep schedules.

Mental toughness (MT) is understood as the display of confidence, commitment, challenge, and control. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which greater MT is associated with subjectively assessed sleep among adolescents. A total of 284 adolescents (M = 18.

Adolescents with greater mental toughness show higher sleep efficiency, more deep sleep and fewer awakenings after sleep onset.

Purpose: Mental toughness (MT) is understood as the display of confidence, commitment, challenge, and control. Mental toughness is associated with resilience against stress. However, research has not yet focused on the relation between MT and objective sleep.

Daily morning running for 3 weeks improved sleep and psychological functioning in healthy adolescents compared with controls.

Purpose: To compare sleep electroencephalographic patterns and psychological functioning of healthy adolescents running regularly in the mornings with those of control subjects. Although several studies have shown that regular moderate-to-vigorous exercise is related to favorable sleep and psychological functioning in adolescents, research on the effectiveness of short interventions is more limited.

Methods: Fifty-one adolescents (mean age = 18.

The relation of objective sleep patterns, depressive symptoms, and sleep disturbances in adolescent children and their parents: a sleep-EEG study with 47 families.

Objectives: Numerous studies have shown that the sleep and well-being of children and their parents are closely related. Previous studies have relied on subjective sleep data and have focused mostly on younger preadolescent children. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the relationship between the sleep patterns of adolescents and those of their parents using objective assessment of sleep.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and adaptation night as determinants of sleep patterns in children.

Sleep problems are a prominent feature in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but their relationships to sleep structure are not consistent across studies. We aimed at further examining the sleep architecture in children with ADHD, while considering the role of the first-night effect (FNE) as a possible confounder. Twenty unmedicated children with ADHD combined type (8-15 years old; mean 11.

The sleeping brain and the neural basis of emotions.

In addition to active wake, emotions are generated and experienced in a variety of functionally different states such as those of sleep, during which external stimulation and cognitive control are lacking. The neural basis of emotions can be specified by regarding the multitude of emotion-related brain states, as well as the distinct neuro- and psychodynamic stages (generation and regulation) of emotional experience.