This study will investigate the role of coordinated brain rhythms during sleep in memory consolidation and determine whether playing precisely timed brief bursts of noise can enhance these rhythms and improve memory in epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes.
The investigators will test the hypotheses that coordinated brain rhythms during nonrapid eye movement sleep are associated with memory consolidation and can be enhanced with auditory stimulation (playing precisely timed brief bursts of quiet noise) to improve memory. The investigators will measure differences in sleep and memory performance in epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes and continuous full scalp EEG monitoring under three overnight sleep conditions: a baseline night; a memory night during which sleep-dependent memory consolidation is assessed with the finger tapping motor sequence task (MST) with training prior to sleep and testing the next morning; and a stimulation night during which participants train on the MST, have precisely timed auditory stimulation during the sleep that follows, and are tested on the MST in the morning.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
24
Hippocampal and scalp EEG monitoring during overnight sleep
Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep with MST testing the following morning
Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep that includes auditory stimulation, with MST testing the following morning
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Changes in slow oscillation-spindle-hippocampal ripple coupling
Changes in the coupling of slow oscillations with spindles and hippocampal ripples during non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep as measured by scalp and intracranial EEG between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights.
Time frame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
Changes in sleep-dependent consolidation of motor procedural memory
Changes in sleep-dependent improvement of motor procedural memory performance on the finger tapping motor sequence task (MST) between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights. Different sequences are employed for the memory and auditory stimulation nights in a counter-balanced order.
Time frame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
Changes in slow oscillations
Changes in slow oscillations during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as measured by EEG between the baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights
Time frame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
Changes in sleep spindles
Changes in sleep spindles during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as measured by EEG between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights
Time frame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
Changes in hippocampal ripples
Changes in hippocampal ripples during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as measured by intracranial EEG between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights
Time frame: Three nights of sleep within three weeks
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