AI Article Synopsis
- The study aims to explore how a decline in cognitive control affects nightmares among older adults, focusing on aspects like frequency and severity of nightmares, emotional reactions, and behaviors during dreams.
- The researchers conducted two studies: the first involved surveys and statistical analysis on elderly individuals with frequent nightmares and matched controls, while the second used computational simulations to support their findings.
- Results showed a significant connection between decreased cognitive control and heightened nightmare experiences, suggesting that cognitive decline in older adults may lead to more intense and distressing nightmares.
Article Abstract
Study Objectives: To describe nightmare phenomenology among community dwelling elderly and to test the hypothesis that reduction in cognitive control is associated with nightmare-related phenomenology including nightmare frequency and severity, greater emotional reactivity, imagery immersion, and dream enactment behaviors (DEBs).
Methods: Study 1: Survey with multiple regression and ANOVAs on N = 56 people with frequent nightmares plus N = 62 age- and gender-matched controls to quantify the strength of the association between cognitive control variables and nightmare phenomenology. Study 2: Computational simulation of nightmare phenomenology in relation to cognitive control to simulate the empirical findings and to assess the underlying causal theory through computationally supported causal inference.
Results: Study 1: Regressions demonstrated a strong association between reduction in cognitive control and more extreme nightmare phenomenology, including severity, frequency, daytime effects, and DEBs. Study 2: The computational simulation of nightmare phenomenology in relation to cognitive control is validated relative to regressions from study 1 and offers computational support for the causal theory explaining the associations in study 1.
Conclusions: In aging people, decline in executive cognitive functions, cognitive control, and inhibitory processes reduce cognitive control over emotions, thus contributing to unusual nightmare activity, including more extreme nightmare phenomenology such as more severe nightmares, greater emotional reactivity, deeper imagery immersion, and DEBs.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2024.10.001 | DOI Listing |
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