02 Feb 2024

Poor sleep is a common condition among humans in which inadequate and variable sleep patterns often arise from a range of environmental and lifestyle factors. Such disruptions in sleep are associated with poor mental health and physical health outcomes that include risk taking and impairments in driving, social functioning, and neuropsychological function. With respect to the latter, transient or more chronic difficulties in vigilance, attention, executive function, and learning and memory are frequently observed. This presentation will focus on recent findings from a study of sleep and neuropsychological function in young adults. We will discuss the impact of highly variable sleep on learning and memory as well as the relationship between daytime naps and verbal memory consolidation.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe basic factors that are important to consider when evaluating sleep.

2. Compare different approaches to measurement of sleep.

3. Discuss ways in which poor sleep can impact neuropsychological function.

4. Explain how sleep could be incorporated into a clinical neuropsychological assessment.

 

Molly Zimmerman received her PhD in clinical psychology with a focus in neuropsychology from the University of Cincinnati. She completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship, both with a focus in clinical neuropsychology, at Brown University. She is currently on faculty in the department of psychology at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY where she enjoys teaching undergraduate and graduate courses and working with students. Her primary research interests span cognition and sleep disturbances, cognitive and neuroimaging correlates of sports-related mild traumatic brain injury, and the clinical neuropsychological assessment of dementia and preclinical dementia.