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Cognitive Psychology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Western University

2016

Learning

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Full-Text Articles in Cognitive Psychology

Dancing In The Dark: Sleep-Dependent Motor Skill Memory Consolidation And Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, Valya Sergeeva Jul 2016

Dancing In The Dark: Sleep-Dependent Motor Skill Memory Consolidation And Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, Valya Sergeeva

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by dysfunction of the striatum and brief, repetitive limb movements during sleep. PLMD can severely disrupt non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Motor skills learning and memory consolidation are dependent on striatal activation, the latter enhanced by NREM sleep. Therefore, we investigated whether individuals with PLMD had learning and sleep-related memory deficits, and whether this putative deficit was related to sleep quality or symptom severity. 14 adults with a PLM index >15/hr underwent two nights (baseline, training) of polysomnographic recording. 15 age-matched healthy controls underwent three nights (baseline, undisturbed training and …