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Nightmares in the elderly: Associations with self-reported executive functions
Wesley J Wildman1, Aidan David2, George Hodulik2
1Center for Mind and Culture, 566 Commonwealth Ave, Suite M-2, Boston, MA, 02215, USA; Boston University, 665 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
Sleep Medicine
|October 10, 2024
Summary
Reduced cognitive control in older adults is linked to more severe nightmares, emotional reactivity, and dream enactment behaviors (DEBs). This decline impacts executive functions, affecting emotional regulation and dream experiences.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
- Psychology
Background:
- Nightmare phenomenology in the elderly is not fully understood.
- Cognitive control is crucial for emotional regulation and dream processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe nightmare phenomenology in community-dwelling elderly.
- To test if reduced cognitive control correlates with nightmare frequency, severity, emotional reactivity, imagery immersion, and dream enactment behaviors (DEBs).
Main Methods:
- Study 1: Survey and regression analyses on individuals with frequent nightmares and matched controls.
- Study 2: Computational simulation to model and infer causality between cognitive control and nightmare phenomenology.
Main Results:
- Regression analyses revealed a significant association between reduced cognitive control and more extreme nightmare experiences.
- Computational simulations validated empirical findings and supported the causal theory linking cognitive control to nightmare phenomenology.
Conclusions:
- Declining executive functions and cognitive control in aging individuals impair emotional regulation.
- This impairment contributes to increased nightmare severity, emotional reactivity, imagery immersion, and dream enactment behaviors (DEBs).
Keywords:
Cognitive controlComputational modelDisturbed dreaming model in agingElderlyFear extinctionNightmaresMore Related Videos
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