REM sleep and emotional face memory in typically-developing children and children with autism.
Sophie Tessier, Andréane Lambert, Peter Scherzer, Boutheina Jemel, Roger Godbout
Author Information
Sophie Tessier: Sleep Laboratory & Clinic, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche, Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Andréane Lambert: Sleep Laboratory & Clinic, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche, Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Peter Scherzer: Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Boutheina Jemel: School of Speech Therapy and Audiology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche, Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Roger Godbout: Sleep Laboratory & Clinic, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal, QC, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche, Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada. Electronic address: roger.godbout@umontreal.ca.
Relationship between REM sleep and memory was assessed in 13 neurotypical and 13 children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A neutral/positive/negative face recognition task was administered the evening before (learning and immediate recognition) and the morning after (delayed recognition) sleep. The number of rapid eye movements (REMs), beta and theta EEG activity over the visual areas were measured during REM sleep. Compared to neurotypical children, children with ASD showed more theta activity and longer reaction time (RT) for correct responses in delayed recognition of neutral faces. Both groups showed a positive correlation between sleep and performance but different patterns emerged: in neurotypical children, accuracy for recalling neutral faces and overall RT improvement overnight was correlated with EEG activity and REMs; in children with ASD, overnight RT improvement for positive and negative faces correlated with theta and beta activity, respectively. These results suggest that neurotypical and children with ASD use different sleep-related brain networks to process faces.
