title: Sleep modulates word-pair learning but not motor sequence learning in healthy older adults.
abstract: Sleep benefits memory across a range of tasks for young adults. However, remarkably little is known of the role of sleep on memory for healthy older adults. We used 2 tasks, 1 assaying motor skill learning and the other assaying nonmotor/declarative learning, to examine off-line changes in performance in young (20-34 years), middle-aged (35-50 years), and older (51-70 years) adults without disordered sleep. During an initial session, conducted either in the morning or evening, participants learned a motor sequence and a list of word pairs. Memory tests were given twice, 12 and 24 hours after training, allowing us to analyze off-line consolidation after a break that included sleep or normal wake. Sleep-dependent performance changes were reduced in older adults on the motor sequence learning task. In contrast, sleep-dependent performance changes were similar for all 3 age groups on the word pair learning task. Age-related changes in sleep or networks activated during encoding or during sleep may contribute to age-related declines in motor sequence consolidation. Interestingly, these changes do not affect declarative memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Bengi
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baran
authors.forename: Edward F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Pace-Schott
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Ivry
authors.forename: Rebecca M C
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Spencer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult