When presented with novel but semantically related elements after learning verbal material, healthy participants tend to endorse these items as previously learned. This reflects the normal integration and association of novel verbal information into long-term memory. How obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) negatively impacts verbal memory performance, and whether deficits are reversible following positive airway pressure (PAP) treatment, remain elusive. We investigated immediate and delayed OSA- and PAP treatment-related effects on verbal memory integration, using a false memory paradigm. Twenty-three patients with OSA learned lists of words semantically related to target non-presented words (1) at baseline after a polysomnography diagnosis night, (2) after a consecutive polysomnography night under PAP titration, and (3) after three months of compliant PAP treatment. At each session, participants learned 10 different lists of words, each list comprising 15 semantically related items. They had then to recognize 15 minutes later (after an intermediate vigilance task) previously learned words within a list including studied words (learned), unstudied but semantically related items (lures), and non-related unstudied items (controls). Sleep quality and fatigue questionnaires, and psychomotor vigilance tests (PVT) were administered at each session. PAP treatment led to OSA remission and improvement in objective and subjective sleep quality. Crucially, recognition of learned and lure words increased after the first night under treatment and remained stable three months later, suggesting successful memory integration and restoration of semantic processes. No treatment-related outcome was found on PVT performance. OSA exerts a detrimental but PAP-reversible effect on verbal learning and semantic memory integration mechanisms underlying the acquisition of novel memory representations.

中文翻译：

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阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停患者的可逆言语记忆整合缺陷。


当学习口头材料后出现新颖但语义相关的元素时，健康的参与者倾向于认可以前学过的这些项目。这反映了新的言语信息在长期记忆中的正常整合和关联。阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停 (OSA) 如何对言语记忆能力产生负面影响，以及气道正压通气 (PAP) 治疗后缺陷是否可以逆转，仍然是个谜。我们使用错误记忆范式研究了 OSA 和 PAP 治疗对言语记忆整合的即时和延迟影响。 23 名 OSA 患者学习了与目标未呈现单词语义相关的单词列表（1）在多导睡眠图诊断之夜后的基线，（2）在 PAP 滴定下的连续多导睡眠图夜间之后，以及（3）三个月的依从性后子宫颈抹片治疗。在每次课程中，参与者学习了 10 个不同的单词列表，每个列表包含 15 个语义相关的项目。然后，他们必须在 15 分钟后（在中间警戒任务之后）识别列表中先前学过的单词，包括已学习的单词（已学习）、未研究但语义相关的项目（诱饵）和不相关的未研究项目（对照）。每次会议均进行睡眠质量和疲劳调查问卷以及精神运动警惕性测试（PVT）。 PAP 治疗导致 OSA 缓解并改善客观和主观睡眠质量。至关重要的是，在接受治疗的第一个晚上后，对习得和诱惑词的识别有所增加，并在三个月后保持稳定，这表明记忆整合和语义过程的恢复成功。 PVT 表现未发现与治疗相关的结果。 OSA 对语言学习和语义记忆整合机制产生有害但 PAP 可逆的影响，这些机制是获取新记忆表征的基础。