Session Schedule

Find a specific presentation in the session by navigating to the timestamp indicated below.

0:00:00
Introduction

0:01:25
The impact of time of day and sleep architecture on the frequency and intensity of intrusions following an analogue trauma exposure
Jessica Paterson (Australia)

0:21:00
Cognitive consequences of local sleep: From mental fatigue to hypersomnia's
Arthur LeCoz (France)

0:39:25
Day-to-day relationships between sleep and intrusive memories following experimental trauma exposure
Jessica Ogden (Australia)

1:00:20
The effects of sleep restriction and insomnia disorder on intrusive memories for emotional scenes
Tony Cunningham (United States)

1:23:07
Question and answer

Summary

Intrusive memories are spontaneous, involuntary intrusions of memories, typically sensory experiences (e.g., sights, sounds, smells), into conscious awareness. While everyone experiences intrusive memories at times, these can develop into a pervasive, distressing symptom of PTSD. Sleep disturbances have been shown to contribute to later development and maintenance of overall PTSD symptoms, including intrusive memories.

Prior research supports the notion sleep plays a role in reducing intrusive memories, however the mechanisms underlying this role are not well understood. Identifying those mechanisms is critical to improving interventions to reduce intrusive memories, and thus, the burden of PTSD. This symposium will focus on precisely that: understanding factors that may explain the relationship between sleep and intrusive memories, including disturbed sleep prior to and following experimental trauma exposure, emotion regulation, memory consolidation and executive control. All data presented will be either unpublished or published within the last year, providing the newest perspective possible to attendees. The symposium will highlight the diversity of research and the diversity of investigators within the field: Each study utilized different experimental manipulations of sleep to examine mechanisms and two include clinical populations. The panel consists of junior, mid-career, and senior investigators, and is evenly split between women and men, representing 3 continents and four universities.

Jessica Paterson will open the session to present unpublished data on how sleep affects intrusions via 2 key facets: (1) sleep structure (i.e., rapid eye movement and slow wave sleep; REM and SWS) in the sleep periods preceding and following analogue traumatic exposure, and (2) differences in intrusion development depending on time of day of exposure. This research is utilizing the trauma film paradigm, where participants watch a distressing film that elicits intrusive memories.

Arthur Le Coz will discuss unpublished data on the causes and consequences of excessive daytime sleepiness at the behavioral, subjective and physiological levels. He will introduce the concept of local sleep (intrusion of sleep-like activity in the otherwise awake brain), and present findings on how poor sleep relates to mind wandering and local sleep using healthy controls, patients with narcolepsy type 1 and idiopathic hypersomnia.

Following Arthur’s talk on sleep and mind wandering, Jess Ogden will discuss mind wandering (as a measure of executive control) as a potential mechanism explaining the effect of sleep on intrusive memories. She will present unpublished findings describing how quantity of sleep at night is associated with intrusive memories and mind wandering the next day; specifically examining whether mind wandering mediates the relationship between sleep and intrusive memories. This research also used the trauma film paradigm to elicit intrusive memories.

Tony Cunningham will present unpublished data examining the effects of sleep disturbance and emotion regulation strategies on the frequency of intrusive thoughts and memories, intrusion-related distress, and vividness following viewing negative images. He will present data from three sleep conditions: healthy controls, a sleep restricted condition, and an insomnia group.

Sean P.A. Drummond, as Chair, will provide brief summary remarks integrating the four presentations and highlighting clinical implications and future research directions.