# Combining myoelectric training with sleep-based memory reactivation to improve motor recovery after stroke

> **NIH NIH R01** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $238,199

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
The proposed research will harness sleep-related memory consolidation to help patients with
Alzheimer’s or related neurodegenerative diseases who suffer from specific word-finding difficulties.
This sort of anomic impairment can be one of the most distressing symptoms for patients and for
their families, perhaps especially when patients fail to remember the names of their closest family
members. Until a cure is available, effective methods for cognitive rehabilitation are needed for
these patients. Methods to decrease these word-finding difficulties could improve quality of life for
patients. We hypothesize that manipulating sleep-related memory reactivation could help to alleviate
these symptoms, and potentially other cognitive symptoms. We thus plan to use the same approach
we have developed in our R01 study and apply it to the treatment of word-finding difficulties.
A burgeoning literature describes how memory reactivation during sleep enhances memory. The
R01 aims to enhance motor rehab with sleep-based memory consolidation, but there is potential for
wider applicability beyond motor rehab—here we propose to expand to cognitive rehab. The best
test case for this effort is with word-finding difficulties. Previous studies in our lab and others have
shown that presenting sound cues during sleep, a method termed targeted memory reactivation
(TMR), improves various types of memory. Our recently published meta-analysis also supports this
conclusion. Here, we aim to capitalize on this effect to determine if it could benefit a broader group
of patients. We first identify a list of words that have become difficult to produce, individualized for
each patient. Patients undergo daily testing of word production using a tablet. They sleep at home,
avoiding the difficulties patients experience in the sleep lab environment and allowing longitudinal
studies. As in our R01 procedure, we monitor sleep using actigraphy, wrist EKG, and wireless EEG.
During sleep, our technology controls the unobtrusive presentation of specific words, avoiding
arousal. We hypothesize that our procedure will selectively decrease anomic impairments, mirroring
other examples of boosting memory during sleep. This novel approach to cognitive rehab in
neurodegenerative disease uses methods developed for our R01, extending their applicability to a
broader clinical population. TMR will be applied at home over 4 weeks, allowing for repeated testing
and powerful within-patient analyses for words cued overnight versus not. The project will pave the
way for future advances in employing sleep-based reinforcement strategies to supplement waking
treatment regimens in order to provide valuable benefits for patients.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10122667
- **Project number:** 3R01NS112942-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** KEN A PALLER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $238,199
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-07-15 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10122667

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10122667, Combining myoelectric training with sleep-based memory reactivation to improve motor recovery after stroke (3R01NS112942-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10122667. Licensed CC0.

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