Abstract:

Along with the aging processing, the changes of sleep and sleep-dependent memory consolidation (SDC) become prominent in older adults. Although prior research indicated that the beneficial effect of sleep on procedural memory consolidation was reduced in older adults, it is still unclear whether they also show impairments on declarative memory. In addition, compared to normal controls, individuals who have neurodegeneration disorders showed impaired SDC effect on episodic memory. Future studies need to consider using both EEG and fMRI data to explore the neural pathway of aging effects on memory through sleep and to investigate the interaction among aging, sleep and memory. Also, it is important to examine the intervention effects on older adults' memory through sleep.

Key words: sleep, aging, sleep phases, sleep-dependent memory consolidation, intervention