Citation

Peters AC, Blechert J, Saemann PG, Eidner I, Czisch M, Spoormaker VI. J. Neurophysiol. 2014; 112(6): 1267-1276.

Affiliation

Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry spoormaker@mpipsykl.mpg.de.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Physiological Society)

DOI

10.1152/jn.00657.2013

PMID

24920020

Abstract

Sleep disturbances are prevalent in clinical anxiety but it remains unclear whether they are cause and/or consequence of this condition. Fear conditioning constitutes a valid laboratory model for the acquisition of normal and pathological anxiety. To explore the relationship between disturbed sleep and anxiety in more detail, the present study evaluated the effect of partial sleep deprivation (SD) on fear conditioning in healthy individuals. The neural correlates of (1) non-associative learning and physiological processing, and (2) associative learning (differential fear conditioning) were addressed. Measurements entailed simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), skin conductance response (SCR) and pulse recordings. Regarding non-associative learning (1), partial SD resulted in a generalized failure to habituate during fear conditioning as evidenced by reduced habituation of SCR and hypothalamus responses to all stimuli. Furthermore, SCR and hypothalamus activity were correlated, supporting their functional relationship. Regarding associative learning (2) effects of partial SD on the acquisition of conditioned fear were weaker and did not reach statistical significance. The hypothalamus plays an integral role in the regulation of sleep and autonomic arousal. Thus, sleep disturbances may play a causal role in the development of normal and, possibly, pathological fear by increasing the susceptibility of the sympathetic nervous system to stressful experiences.

Language: en