Age effects on spectral electroencephalogram activity prior to dream recall.
Sarah L Chellappa, Mirjam Münch, Vera Knoblauch, Christian Cajochen
Journal of Sleep Research June 1, 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2011.00947.x (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractOlder adults show distinct brain activity patterns during sleep that are linked to whether they recall a dream. Compared with young people (20-31 years), older volunteers (57-74 years) had higher frontal delta and centro-parietal sigma activity during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep before dream recall, but lower frontal-central delta and sigma activity before no recall. During REM sleep, older participants had less frontal-central alpha and beta activity regardless of recall. The findings suggest age-related differences in dream recall are directly tied to specific EEG frequency and brain-region patterns, especially during NREM sleep.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 32 |
| Population | 17 young (20-31 years) and 15 older (57-74 years) volunteers |
| Duration | 40 h multiple nap protocol |
| Key finding | Older adults exhibit higher frontal delta and centro-parietal sigma EEG activity before dream recall during NREM sleep, and lower frontal-central delta and sigma activity before no recall, compared with young adults. |
Abstract
Ageing is associated with marked changes in sleep timing, structure and electroencephalographic (EEG) activity. Older people exhibit less slow-wave and spindle activity during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, together with attenuated levels of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep as compared to young individuals. However, the extent to which these age-related changes in sleep impact on dream processing remains largely unknown. Here we investigated NREM and REM sleep EEG activity prior to dream recall and no recall in 17 young (20-31 years) and 15 older volunteers (57-74 years) during a 40 h multiple nap protocol. Dream recall was assessed immediately after each nap. During NREM sleep prior to dream recall, older participants displayed higher frontal EEG delta activity (1-3 Hz) and higher centro-parietal sigma activity (12-15 Hz) than the young volunteers. Conversely, before no recall, older participants had less frontal-central delta activity and less sigma activity in frontal, central and parietal derivations than the young participants. REM sleep was associated to age-related changes, such that older participants had less frontal-central alpha (10-12 Hz) and beta (16-19 Hz) activity, irrespective of dream recall and no recall. Our data indicate that age-related differences in dream recall seem to be directly coupled to specific frequency and topography EEG patterns, particularly during NREM sleep. Thus, the spectral correlates of dreaming can help to understand the cortical pathways of dreaming.