2011 — 2014 |
Scullin, Michael |
F32Activity Code Description: To provide postdoctoral research training to individuals to broaden their scientific background and extend their potential for research in specified health-related areas. |
The Role of Sleep in Cognitive Declines in Normal Aging and Mild Cognitive Impair
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sleep has been demonstrated to promote the reactivation ("replay") and consolidation of important memories and the pruning of irrelevant memories. Consolidation and pruning typically occur during slow wave sleep (i.e., deep sleep), in which memories are transferred from temporary storage in hippocampal regions to long-term storage in neocortical regions. Thus, sleep is vital to daytime cognitive functioning. Nearly all sleep-dependent memory consolidation and pruning research has examined sleep and memory in college-aged adults, thereby ignoring how memory consolidation and pruning may change with normal aging and in clinical sleep disorders. This omission may be particularly crucial because substantial sleep physiology changes (including slow wave sleep declines) and profound memory declines have been reported in healthy older adults and those with mild cognitive impairment and sleep-disordered breathing. The current proposal focuses on this intriguing sleep-memory-aging relationship to determine how age-related sleep changes impact age-related memory changes. Younger adults, healthy older adults, and adults who have mild cognitive impairment as well as sleep-disordered breathing, will encode memories that they are either told will be important in the future or irrelevant in the future, and then they will take a polysomnography-recorded nap. Following the nap, they will be tested on their ability to remember "important" memories and forget "irrelevant" memories. Memory performance will be correlated with polysomnography-defined sleep features such as amount of slow wave sleep. The results will shed light on whether sleep-dependent memory consolidation and pruning processes are impaired in healthy older adults and those with clinical sleep disorders. The results will also provide information regarding how the sleep-memory relationship may change from younger adults to older adults;such knowledge can subsequently be used to develop cognitive rehabilitation treatments for healthy older adults, mild cognitive impairment patients, and sleep-disordered breathing patients. For example, if slow wave sleep changes mediate group deficits in memory then a potentially effective treatment might entail prescribing slow wave sleep enhancers. Or, if sleep-disordered breathing events cause memory consolidation/pruning declines then continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment might be appropriate. Finally, if memory consolidation and/or pruning are relatively preserved during sleep in older adults then a useful intervention may include strategically timed naps during the day. This research will advance knowledge of cognitive aging beyond the waking brain to the exciting new frontier of the sleeping brain.
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0.915 |
2013 |
Scullin, Michael |
F32Activity Code Description: To provide postdoctoral research training to individuals to broaden their scientific background and extend their potential for research in specified health-related areas. |
Role of Sleep in Cognitive Declines in Normal Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sleep has been demonstrated to promote the reactivation (replay) and consolidation of important memories and the pruning of irrelevant memories. Consolidation and pruning typically occur during slow wave sleep (i.e., deep sleep), in which memories are transferred from temporary storage in hippocampal regions to long-term storage in neocortical regions. Thus, sleep is vital to daytime cognitive functioning. Nearly all sleep-dependent memory consolidation and pruning research has examined sleep and memory in college-aged adults, thereby ignoring how memory consolidation and pruning may change with normal aging and in clinical sleep disorders. This omission may be particularly crucial because substantial sleep physiology changes (including slow wave sleep declines) and profound memory declines have been reported in healthy older adults and those with mild cognitive impairment and sleep-disordered breathing. The current proposal focuses on this intriguing sleep-memory-aging relationship to determine how age-related sleep changes impact age-related memory changes. Younger adults, healthy older adults, and adults who have mild cognitive impairment as well as sleep-disordered breathing, will encode memories that they are either told will be important in the future or irrelevant in the future, and then they will take a polysomnography-recorded nap. Following the nap, they will be tested on their ability to remember important memories and forget irrelevant memories. Memory performance will be correlated with polysomnography-defined sleep features such as amount of slow wave sleep. The results will shed light on whether sleep-dependent memory consolidation and pruning processes are impaired in healthy older adults and those with clinical sleep disorders. The results will also provide information regarding how the sleep-memory relationship may change from younger adults to older adults; such knowledge can subsequently be used to develop cognitive rehabilitation treatments for healthy older adults, mild cognitive impairment patients, and sleep-disordered breathing patients. For example, if slow wave sleep changes mediate group deficits in memory then a potentially effective treatment might entail prescribing slow wave sleep enhancers. Or, if sleep-disordered breathing events cause memory consolidation/pruning declines then continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment might be appropriate. Finally, if memory consolidation and/or pruning are relatively preserved during sleep in older adults then a useful intervention may include strategically timed naps during the day. This research will advance knowledge of cognitive aging beyond the waking brain to the exciting new frontier of the sleeping brain.
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0.915 |
2017 — 2018 |
Scullin, Michael K |
R21Activity Code Description: To encourage the development of new research activities in categorical program areas. (Support generally is restricted in level of support and in time.) |
Using Smartphone Personal Assistant Technology to Improve Prospective Memory in Alzheimer's Disease
Abstract: Alzheimer?s disease is a debilitating condition for patients and their caregivers that have hallmark cognitive symptoms (e.g., memory loss) as well as a profound impact on non-cognitive symptoms (e.g., quality of life). Researchers and clinicians are learning that a specific type of memory, called prospective memory, may be particularly affected in mild Alzheimer?s disease. Prospective memory is memory for future intentions, goals, and chores, and the loss of the neurocognitive processes supporting prospective memory may reduce independent functioning (e.g., medication adherence). We propose a technology-based intervention study to assist participants with their daily prospective memory tasks. Participants with mild Alzheimer?s disease will be trained to use a smartphone for four weeks. We will measure the acceptability, usability, and overall user experience of the smartphone in participants with mild Alzheimer?s disease. Furthermore, we will test whether the personal assistant feature of smartphone can assist participants with daily prospective memory tasks. In one group, participants will train to use the personal assistant reminder system, which reminds participants of their goals, tasks, and chores at the appropriate time or GPS-defined location. Our comparison group will also carry a smartphone but will train to use a cognitive strategy in which they verbalize external cues to remind them to perform their goals, tasks, and chores. We predict that participants with mild Alzheimer?s disease who use the personal assistant reminder system will show objective improvements on a diversity of theory-based, experimenter-provided prospective memory tasks. Furthermore, we propose that to the extent that prospective memory is improved, perceptions of quality of life will also improve. This research will inform whether smartphone technology can be used to reduce memory burden and improve daily, independent functioning in participants with mild Alzheimer?s disease.
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1 |
2019 — 2022 |
Beaujean, Alexander Nelson, Steven (co-PI) [⬀] Scullin, Michael |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Impact of Sleep Loss On Creativity and Stem Learning For First-Year College Students
More than half of all college students are habitually sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation is known to have powerful, detrimental effects generally on brain functioning, yet the extent of its specific effects on mental activity is unknown. This project, led by researchers at Baylor University, will bring together a collaborative team of sleep scientists, educators, cognitive neuroscientists, and statisticians to address theoretical and applied issues at the nexus of sleep, creativity, and STEM learning, especially those concerning whether such prolific sleep loss in students thwarts efforts to foster creativity and STEM learning. Existing theoretical frameworks posit that creative ability is not firmly set, but instead can fluctuate dynamically across hours, days, and weeks. Investigating the brain processes underlying these fluctuations in creativity, in relation to sleeping patterns and success and retention in STEM, will not only provide crucial information from a theoretical perspective, but can also provide a foundation for the development of future educational interventions. Therefore, the study findings will be disseminated broadly, in scientific as well as in formal and informal educational settings. The Project will include a collaboration with a local museum in hosting pop-up exhibits each year to disseminate the findings directly to students, parents, and teachers. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning and broadening participation in STEM fields.
This project will empirically investigate the interplay of sleep, creativity, and learning outcomes. A large sample of college students in a STEM major will complete a battery of tests assessing creativity, fluid intelligence, sleep habits, and science-concept learning. Structural equation modeling will assess the degree to which sleep habits and creativity have a causal influence on science-concept learning, independent of fluid intelligence. A subset of this larger sample will complete a two-phase polysomnography-monitored, cross-over experiment in which they will sleep normally and undergo multi-night sleep restriction (order counterbalanced). At the end of each phase, participants will undergo neuroimaging while performing tests of creativity, attention, and encoding. The psychometric, polysomnographic, and neuroimaging data will then be utilized to investigate longitudinal relations with STEM achievement and retention.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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0.915 |