The Role of Sleep in Mediating Memory Consolidation in Young Adults with ADHD
The National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel funding 2025-2027
Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been associated with cortico-striatal dysfunction that can lead to procedural memory abnormalities. A burgeoning literature suggests sleep mediates procedural memory consolidation. At the same time, several studies show dramatic sleep alterations in ADHD. This raises the possibility that ADHDs’ altered sleep processes could contribute to their skill memory impairments. Here we suggest examining how sleep mediates memory consolidation in adults with ADHD. By investigating the consolidation of procedural and declarative memories across sleep vs. wakefulness intervals, we wish to determine whether memory consolidation failure in ADHD is sleep-dependent and whether it is confined to procedural memories. Our preliminary results provide the first demonstration that sleep does not produce skill memory benefits in ADHD as it does for neurotypicals. By including a polysomnographic investigation conducted in a sleep laboratory, we seek to reveal whether the sleep-dependent memory consolidation failure in ADHD is related to alterations in sleep macro- and micro-architecture relative to neurotypicals. This project could produce scientifically and clinically important contributions, given that if the predictions are validated this will link a specific cognitive deficit to a particular sleep-related mechanism and could provide hints for effective intervention, as abnormal sleep is a potential therapeutic target.