Key result
Increased beta-band power during pre-extinction sleep is linked to worse extinction recall.
Why the study?
The electrophysiological mechanisms underpinning sleep's role in the retention of fear extinction remain underdetermined.
Is beta spectral power during sleep associated with impaired recall of extinguished fear in healthy humans and individuals with PTSD?
Observational (n=83)
Is beta spectral power during sleep associated with impaired recall of extinguished fear in healthy humans and individuals with PTSD?
Increased beta-band spectral power during sleep prior to extinction learning is associated with impaired recall of extinguished fear, suggesting a potential electrophysiological mechanism for extinction retention difficulties.
May mark impaired extinction retention; hypothesis-generating for PTSD mechanisms and requires prospective validation before clinical consideration.
The failure to retain memory for extinguished fear plays a major role in the maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with successful extinction recall necessary for symptom reduction. Disturbed sleep, a hallmark symptom of PTSD, impairs fear extinction recall. However, our understanding of the electrophysiological mechanisms underpinning sleep's role in extinction retention remains underdetermined. We examined the relationship between the microarchitecture of sleep and extinction recall in healthy humans (n = 71, both male and females included) and a pilot study in individuals with PTSD (n = 12). Participants underwent a fear conditioning and extinction protocol over 2 days, with sleep recording occurring between conditioning and extinction. Twenty-four hours after extinction learning, participants underwent extinction recall. Power spectral density (PSD) was computed for pre- and post-extinction learning sleep. Increased beta-band PSD (~17-26 Hz) during pre-extinction learning sleep was associated with worse extinction recall in healthy participants (r = 0.41, p = .004). Beta PSD was highly stable across three nights of sleep (intraclass correlation coefficients > 0.92). Results suggest beta-band PSD is specifically implicated in difficulties recalling extinguished fear.
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Denis et al. (2023) conducted an observational in Healthy individuals and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (n=83). Increased beta-band power spectral density (~17-26 Hz) during sleep was evaluated on Extinction recall (r = 0.41, p=0.004). Increased beta-band power spectral density during pre-extinction learning sleep was significantly associated with worse extinction recall in healthy participants (r = 0.41, p = 0.004).
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