Epilepsy
Conditions
Keywords
Sleep, Memory, Auditory stimulation, Spindles, Intracranial monitoring, Hippocampal ripples, Slow oscillations
Brief summary
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.
Detailed description
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.
Interventions
OTHERBaseline
Hippocampal and scalp EEG monitoring during overnight sleep
OTHERMotor procedural memory task
Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep with MST testing the following morning
OTHERMotor procedural memory task plus auditory stimulation
Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep that includes auditory stimulation, with MST testing the following morning
Sponsors
Massachusetts General Hospital
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
12 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Inpatients with epilepsy * Aged 12-65 * Undergoing clinically indicated continuous scalp and intracranial EEG monitoring with implanted hippocampal electrodes * Fluent in English * Able to give informed consent/assent (for minors aged 12-17 or adults with an appointed guardian)
Exclusion criteria
* Intellectual disability impairing ability to perform task * Motor problems that preclude finger tapping task * Previous surgery anticipated to disrupt coordination of sleep oscillations in the circuitry of interest
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in slow oscillation-spindle-hippocampal ripple coupling | Three nights of sleep within three weeks | 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. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in sleep-dependent consolidation of motor procedural memory | Three nights of sleep within three weeks | 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. |
| Changes in slow oscillations | Three nights of sleep within three weeks | Changes in slow oscillations during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as measured by EEG between the baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights |
| Changes in sleep spindles | Three nights of sleep within three weeks | Changes in sleep spindles during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as measured by EEG between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights |
| Changes in hippocampal ripples | Three nights of sleep within three weeks | Changes in hippocampal ripples during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as measured by intracranial EEG between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed