Impaired sleep-related memory consolidation in primary insomnia--a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
To compare sleep-related consolidation of procedural memory in patients with primary insomnia and healthy controls.


METHODS
Controlled comparison pilot study.


METHODS
Sleep Laboratory of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg, Germany.


METHODS
Seven patients with primary insomnia and 7 sex-, age-, and IQ-matched healthy controls.


METHODS
Subjects spent 1 night in the sleep laboratory with polysomnographic monitoring. Performance on a mirror tracing task was measured before and after sleep.


RESULTS
Polysomnography revealed a trend toward disturbed sleep in the patients, compared with the control group, without reaching significance. Performance in the mirror tracing task before sleep did not differ between the groups. Both groups performed significantly better in the retest condition after sleep. Healthy controls showed an improvement of 42.8% +/- 5.8% in the mirror tracing draw time, whereas patients with insomnia showed an improvement of 20.4% +/- 14.8% (multivariate analyses of variance test session x group interaction: F(3,10) = 10.9, p = .002).


CONCLUSIONS
These preliminary findings support the view that sleep-associated consolidation of procedural memories may be impaired in patients with primary insomnia.
Nissen
Christoph
C
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. nissenc@upmc.edu
Kloepfer
Corinna
C
Nofzinger
Eric A
EA
Feige
Bernd
B
Voderholzer
Ulrich
U
Riemann
Dieter
D
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017286:Polysomnography; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*