We cordially invite you to the next lecture of the BME Cognitive Seminar Series: Date & Time: April 16, Monday, 12:00-13:00 Location: BME, XI., Egry József utca 1., T. ép 515. *The Pathophysiology of Idiopathic Nightmare Disorder: A Polysomnographic Investigation* *Simor Péter* Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics http://www.bodizs-lab.hu/people/postgraduate-students/peter-daniel-simor.ht… Abstract Idiopathic nightmare disorder, affecting 2-8 percent of the adult population, is considered to be a REM parasomnia characterized (on a weekly basis) by highly disturbing mental experiences during late-night sleep. The common appearance of disturbed dreaming and psychopathological symptoms have contributed to the assumption that nightmares are the secondary symptom of an underlying mental disorder. Nevertheless, while co-morbid psychopathology may increase the severity and daytime effects of disturbed dreaming, research suggests that frequent nightmares should be considered as a specific sleep disorder that are independent in its origins from other mental complaints. According to questionnaire-based data, disturbed dreaming is related to poor subjective sleep quality; however; polysomnographic studies investigating objective sleep alterations in subjects with frequent nightmares are more than scarce. In order to unravel the neurophysiological background of disturbed sleep in nightmare disorder we selected a group of young nightmare sufferers and healthy controls for standard polysomnography (10-20 system) for two consecutive nights in our sleep laboratory. In this talk, we present our findings related to the alterations of sleep architecture, the so-called macrostructure of sleep. Moreover we present our results regarding abnormal arousal processes in nightmare subjects, based on the evaluation of the Cyclic Alternating Pattern. Finally we briefly summarize our preliminary data on the spectral distribution of neural oscillations that provides a more detailed analysis into the dynamics of sleep regulation. -- Attila Keresztes Junior Research Fellow Budapest University of Technology and Economics Dept. of Cognitive Science, Egry József u. 1, Budapest 1111, Hungary Tel: +36 1 4633525