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Animal and human studies indicate that fear conditioning disrupts subsequent sleep, including REM sleep (REMS). REMS is thought to be central to fear information processing. We utilized an afternoon nap protocol to examine the effects of fear-potentiated startle (FPS), a variant of fear conditioning, on subsequent sleep integrity and REMS in trauma-exposed participants with varying levels of PTSD. We also examined the effects of changes in sleep integrity and REMS on subsequent retention and extinction of pre-sleep learning.

Participants (N=47) participated in 3 nap visits. The first was an adaptation nap. The second and third nap visits were counterbalanced: a stress-condition nap, during which participants underwent FPS procedures prior to a nap and assessment of retention of fear and safety signal learning and fear extinction after the nap, and a …