Manuel Schabus

University of Salzburg · Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience

Neuroimaging methods can be used to investigate whether sleep disorders are associated with specific changes in brain structure or regional activity. However, it is still unclear how these new data might improve our understanding of the pathophysiology underlying adult sleep disorders. Here we review functional brain imaging findings in major intri...

See Thibault et al. (doi:10.1093/awx033) for a scientific commentary on this article. Neurofeedback training builds upon the simple concept of instrumental conditioning, i.e. behaviour that is rewarded is more likely to reoccur, an effect Thorndike referred to as the ‘law of effect’. In the case of neurofeedback, information about specific electroe...

The brain continues to respond selectively to environmental stimuli during sleep. However, the functional role of such responses, and whether they reflect information processing or rather sensory inhibition is not fully understood.Here, we present 17 human sleepers (14 females) with their own name and two unfamiliar first names, spoken by either a...

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the performance of a low-cost commercial smartwatch, the Xiaomi Mi Band (MB), in extracting physical activity and sleep-related measures and show its potential use in addressing questions that require large-scale real-time data and/or intercultural data including low-income countries. We evaluated ph...

The quality of early interactions between parents and their children is essential for fostering healthy development. This study investigates the relationship between parent-infant interaction, language development and infant regulation, as well as the distinct roles of mothers and fathers.A total of 40 mother-child dyads were examined at six months...

Imagine you are listening to a familiar song on the radio. As the melody and rhythm unfold, you can often anticipate the next note or beat, even before it plays. This ability demonstrates the brain’s capacity to extract statistical regularities from sensory input and to generate predictions about future sensory events. It is considered automatic, r...

Objectives: To study whether a mobile, unguided Cognitive Behavior Therapy-based Intervention for Sleep Disturbance, Sleep2 is feasible, acceptable, and reduces mental health/sleep disturbance symptoms among the Ukrainian population during the ongoing war. Methods: A single-arm, open-label, uncontrolled pre-post evaluation study was conducted with...

Background Shift workers are at an increased risk of developing sleep disorders. The standard therapy recommended for sleep disorders is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Many of its interventions are based on a regular sleep and wake rhythm, which is difficult to apply for shift workers. We have therefore developed a new therapy...

Objective: This study investigated the impact of war exposure on post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and sleep disturbance across Ukraine. Subjective and objective indicators of war exposure were modelled as predictors of these symptoms. Methods: We created two predictors: first, we used governmental and crowd-sourced data to create an objective...

Introduction It has been suggested that the human brain is involved in actively predicting upcoming sensory inputs based on previous experience. The extent to which such a mechanism operates during sleep remains elusive. Studies utilizing mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigms report disruption of hierarchical predictive coding in sleep, while others...

Introduction The widespread use of wearable devices has led to the emerging trend to quantify sleep. However, concerns arise due to the potential inaccuracies in these devices, which even can result in adverse daytime consequences. Here, we present an automatized, low-cost, deep learning alternative to PSG sleep staging that provides a reliable epo...

Introduction Insomnia exerts a substantial impact on a considerable portion of the population, resulting in significant detriments to health, workplace safety, and overall quality of life. Digital treatment programs have currently made effective and easily accessible treatment options possible. In our current study, we examine the impact of a 6-wee...

Introduction Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is divided into phasic and tonic episodes based on the presence or absence of eye movements, respectively. Phasic REM, often linked with dreaming, is traditionally seen as a phase of brain isolation from the surroundings. On the contrary, during tonic REM periods, the brain is thought to maintain a strong...

Introduction Due to the gap in non-pharmacological insomnia treatment, effective and validated digital solutions are urgently needed. So far, digital cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) options are comprised of a therapy program and subjective measurements in form of a sleep diary. Objective sleep measurements are usually not included...

Early mother-infant interaction is believed to have a significant impact on the social, cognitive, and emotional development of children. These interactions are not only influenced by child and contextual factors but also by the mother’s personality traits and strain. In this study, we investigated the relation between maternal factors such as pers...

Introduction Early language development in infants is being increasingly studied, though only recently with direct measurements of brain activity rather than with behavioral or physiological measurements. In the current study, we use electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings of 2-week-old infants to look for signs of prenatal learning and to investi...

Introduction Postpartum suicidal ideation is a significant concern, as it poses a risk for future suicide attempts, particularly in high income countries, where suicide ranks among the leading causes of death for postpartum mothers. The literature indicates a global average prevalence of postpartum suicidal ideation of approximately 7%, but for Aus...

Understanding the complex relationship between sleep and memory consolidation is a major challenge in cognitive neuroscience and psychology. Many studies suggest that sleep triggers off-line memory processes, resulting in less forgetting of declarative memory and performance stabilization in non-declarative memory. However, the role of sleep in hum...

The aperiodic (1/f-like) component of electrophysiological data - whereby power systematically decreases with increasing frequency, as quantified by the aperiodic exponent - has been shown to differentiate sleep stages. Earlier work, however, has typically focused on measuring the aperiodic exponent across a narrow frequency range. In this work, we...

Due to insufficient treatment options for insomnia, effective solutions are urgently needed. We evaluated the effects of a CBT‐I‐based app combining sleep training with subjective and objective sleep monitoring on (i) sleep and (ii) subjective‐objective sleep discrepancies (SOSD). Fifty‐seven volunteers (20–76 years; M Age = 45.67 ± 16.38; 39 femal...

Understanding the complex relationship between sleep and memory consolidation is a major challenge in cognitive neuroscience and psychology. Many studies suggest that sleep triggers off-line memory processes, resulting in less forgetting of declarative memory and performance stabilization in non-declarative memory. However, the role of sleep in hum...

Progress in the field of insomnia since 2017 necessitated this update of the European Insomnia Guideline. Recommendations for the diagnostic procedure for insomnia and its comorbidities are: clinical interview (encompassing sleep and medical history); the use of sleep questionnaires and diaries (and physical examination and additional measures wher...

Objectives The aim of our survey is to identify psychological features for the relationship between mental health and hardiness of Ukrainians during the war. Methods The study involved 608 Ukrainians. We aimed to identify the relationship between mental health and hardiness and determine the differences in the peculiarities of mental health of peo...

More and more people quantify their sleep using wearables and are becoming obsessed in their pursuit of optimal sleep (“orthosomnia”). However, it is criticized that many of these wearables are giving inaccurate feedback and can even lead to negative daytime consequences. Acknowledging these facts, we here optimize our previously suggested sleep cl...

There is an urgent need for easily accessible treatment options for sleep problems to reduce the current treatment gap in receiving cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Using a randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the efficacy of a CBT-I-based online program on sleep. Fifty-three volunteers (21–71 years; MAge = 44.6 ± 12.5; 27 fe...

More and more people quantify their sleep using wearables and are getting obsessed in their pursuit of optimal sleep (“orthosomnia”). However, it is criticized that many of these wearables are giving inaccurate feedback and even can lead to negative daytime consequences. Acknowledging these facts, we here aim to extend previous findings [] in a new...

Due to insufficient treatment options for sleep disorders, effective solutions are urgently needed. We evaluate the effects of a CBT-I-based app combining sleep training with subjective and objective sleep monitoring on i) sleep and ii) subjective-objective sleep discrepancies (SOSD) as known for insomnia. Fifty-seven volunteers (20-76 years; MAge=...

Objectives: There is an urgent need for easily accessible treatment options for sleep problems to reduce the current treatment gap in receiving cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Using a randomized controlled trial, we evaluate the efficacy of an CBT-I-based online-program on sleep. Methods Fifty-three volunteers (21-71 years; MAge...

The study found that about every 4th Ukrainian demonstrates a low level of personal hardiness, which is accompanied by emotional discomfort and lack of internal locus of control, making them more susceptible to stress and illness. Additionally, they tend to distance themselves which significantly exacerbates the situation. It has been found that Uk...

Given rising numbers in sleep disorders and insufficient availability of treatment options, the need for well-validated digital interventions rises. This study aims at assessing the efficacy of an app-program which combines sleep-training based on core elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) with reliable sleep-monitoring bas...

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, new mothers and their babies represent a particularly vulnerable group. This study investigates the effects of the pandemic on the pregnancy and childbirth experience, as well as on postnatal stress and depression levels. Methods: An online survey was completed by 1964 Austrian and German mothers who gav...

Understanding the complex relationship between sleep and memory is a major challenge in neuroscience. Many studies on memory consolidation in humans suggest that sleep triggers offline memory processes, resulting in less forgetting of declarative memory and performance stabilization in non-declarative memory. However, issues related to non-optimal...

Bis zu 30% der Bevölkerung klagen über eine schlechte Schlafqualität bzw. Symptome der Insomnie. Aufgrund unzureichender Behandlungsangebote mit der empfohlenen Therapie, der KVT-I steigt die Nachfrage an validierten digitalen Behandlungsformen. In dieser Studie wird die Smartphone-App NUKKUAA hinsichtlich ihrer klinischen Relevanz evaluiert. NUKKU...

Background Approximately one-third of the healthy population suffer from sleep problems, but only a small proportion of those affected receive professional help. Therefore, there is an urgent need for easily accessible, affordable, and efficacious sleep interventions. Objective A randomized controlled study was conducted to investigate the efficac...

Sleep staging based on polysomnography (PSG) performed by human experts is the de facto “gold standard” for the objective measurement of sleep. PSG and manual sleep staging is, however, personnel-intensive and time-consuming and it is thus impractical to monitor a person’s sleep architecture over extended periods. Here, we present a novel, low-cost...

Understanding the complex relationship between sleep and memory is a major challenge in neuroscience. Many studies on memory consolidation in humans suggest that sleep triggers offline memory processes, resulting in less forgetting of declarative memory and performance stabilization in non-declarative memory. However, an increasing number of contra...

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns worldwide forced children and adolescents to change and adapt their lives to an unprecedented situation. Using an online survey, we investigated whether they showed changes in sleep quality and other related factors due to this event. Between February 21st, 2021 and April 19th, 2021, a total of 2,290 Austrian chi...

Objectives The negative psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are becoming increasingly apparent. Children and adolescents in particular, were affected and torn away from their daily life routines. The aim of our survey is to evaluate the psychosocial burden and impairments of children and adolescents in Austria during the COVID-19 pandemic...

Background Becoming parents can be a big challenge, but how is this experience affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its measures? Methods Between 18.05.2021 and 01.07.2021, we conducted an online-survey to gain insight into becoming parents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany and Austria. The sample mentioned in this report consists of biolog...

Background New mothers are a particularly vulnerable group during the COVID-19 pandemic, due both to the higher depression and stress levels associated with early child care and to the risk of a COVID-19 infection. We investigated the effects of the pandemic on the childbirth experience, stress and depression levels in this population. Methods Thi...

The 'day residue' - the presence of waking memories into dreams - is a century-old concept that remains controversial in neuroscience. Even at the psychological level, it remains unclear how waking imagery cedes into dreams. Are visual and affective residues enhanced, modified, or erased at sleep onset? Are they linked, or dissociated? What are the...

Objective The aim was to assess the psychosocial burden, risk-perception and attitudes regarding the coronavirus pandemic among the Austrian population after the second infection wave in Austria. Methods A self-designed questionnaire was available online from 17th January to 19th February 2021. Knowledge, attitudes, fears, and psychosocial burdens...

Recent research revealed a surprisingly large range of cognitive operations to be preserved during sleep in humans. The new challenge is therefore to understand functions and mechanisms of processes, which so far have been mainly investigated in awake subjects. The current study focuses on dynamic changes of brain oscillations and connectivity patt...

Study Objectives While light therapy has proven effective in re-entraining circadian rhythms, the potential of such an intervention has not been evaluated systematically in post-comatose patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC), who often have strongly altered circadian rhythms. Methods We recorded skin temperature over 7–8 days in patients...

The current study investigated heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) across day and night in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). We recorded 24-h electrocardiography in 26 patients with DOC (i.e., unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS; n = 16) and (exit) minimally conscious state ((E)MCS; n = 10)). To examine diurnal variati...

Previously, we demonstrated that precise temporal coordination between slow oscillations (SOs) and sleep spindles indexes declarative memory network development (Hahn et al., 2020). However, it is unclear whether these findings in the declarative memory domain also apply in the motor memory domain. Here, we compared adolescents and adults learning...

The current study investigated heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) across day and night in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). We recorded 24-h ECG in 26 patients with DOC (i.e., unresponsive wakefulness syndrome [UWS; n=16] and (exit) minimally conscious state [(E)MCS; n=10]). To examine diurnal variations, HR and HRV indi...

Understanding the complex relationship between sleep and memory is a major challenge in neuroscience. Thousands of studies on memory consolidation in humans suggest that sleep triggers offline memory processes, resulting in less forgetting of declarative memory and performance stabilization in non-declarative memory. However, an increasing number o...

The brain continues to respond selectively to environmental stimuli even during sleep. However, the functional role of such responses, and whether they reflect information processing or rather sensory inhibition is not fully understood. Here, we presented 17 human sleepers (14 females) with their own name and two unfamiliar first names, spoken by e...

The survey on “Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding the Coronavirus Pandemic” was available online from 17. Jan 2021 to 19. Feb 2021 for the Austrian population. The aim of the study was to obtain a representative overview of the assessment of the current pandemic situation by the German-speaking general population (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland)....

The survey “Now it’s your turn to speak up!” evaluates the psychosocial burden and impairments of children and adolescents in Austria during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Using an online-questionnaire, 5483 children and adolescents between 6 and 18 years shared their feelings, fears, worries and thoughts regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Most of...

Zusammenfassung Die Umfrage „Jetzt Sprichst Du!“ veranschaulicht eindrücklich die psychosozialen Belastungen und die Beeinträchtigung von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Österreich während der aktuellen Coronapandemie. Im Rahmen einer Online-Umfrage wurden 5483 Kinder und Jugendliche im Alter von 6 bis 18 Jahren bezüglich ihrer Gefühle, Ängste, Sorgen...

The survey „Jetzt Sprichst Du!” evaluates the psychosocial burden and impairments of children and adolescents in Austria during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Using an online-questionnaire, 5483 children and adolescents between 6 and 18 years shared their feelings, fears, worries and thoughts regarding the Coronavirus pandemic. Most of them report...

Past research has demonstrated differential responses of the brain during sleep in response especially to variations in paralinguistic properties of auditory stimuli, suggesting they can still be processed “offline”. However, the nature of the underlying mechanisms remains unclear. Here, we therefore used multivariate pattern analyses to directly t...

Our study aimed to assess the change in the sleep patterns during the Coronavirus lockdown in five regions (Austria/Germany, Ukraine, Greece, Cuba and Brazil), using online surveys, translated in each language. Part of the cohort (age 25-65, well-educated) was collected directly during lockdown, to which retrospective cross-sectional data from and...

Precise temporal coordination between slow oscillations (SO) and sleep spindles indexes declarative memory network development. SO-spindle interplay is thought to time subcortical-cortical network communication. However, it is currently unclear whether these findings in the declarative memory domain also apply in the motor memory domain. Here, we c...

These authors contributed equally to this work. All other authors are listed in reverse alphabetical order. Neurofeedback has begun to attract the attention and scrutiny of the scientific and medical mainstream. Here, neurofeedback researchers present a consensus-derived checklist that aims to improve the reporting and experimental design standards...

In our pilot study, we exposed third-trimester fetuses, from week 34 of gestation onwards, twice daily to a maternal spoken nursery rhyme. Two and five weeks after birth, 34 newborns, who were either familiarized with rhyme stimulation in utero or stimulation naïve, were (re-)exposed to the familiar, as well as to a novel and unfamiliar, rhyme, bot...

Background:Better integrity of circadian rhythms has been shown to relate to a richer behavioral repertoire in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). As light exposure has proven successful in treating circadian rhythm disorders, we sought to investigate whether simulating natural daylight in a clinical setting can entrain circadian rhythm...

Our study aimed to assess the change in the sleep patterns during the Coronavirus lockdown in five regions (Austria/Germany, Ukraine, Greece, Cuba and Brazil), using online surveys, translated in each language. Part of the cohort was collected directly during lockdown, to which retrospective cross-sectional data from and after lockdown (retrospecti...

In a pilot study, 34 fetuses were stimulated daily with a maternal spoken nursery rhyme from week 34 of gestation onward and re-exposed two and five weeks after birth to this familiar, as well as to an unfamiliar rhyme, both spoken with the maternal and an unfamiliar female voice. During auditory stimulation, newborns were continuously monitored wi...

Precise temporal coordination of slow oscillations (SO) and sleep spindles is a fundamental mechanism of sleep-dependent memory consolidation. SO and spindle morphology changes considerably throughout development. Critically, it remains unknown how the precise temporal coordination of these two sleep oscillations develops during brain maturation an...

Precise temporal coordination of slow oscillations (SO) and sleep spindles is a fundamental mechanism of sleep-dependent memory consolidation. SO and spindle morphology changes considerably throughout development. Critically, it remains unknown how the precise temporal coordination of these two sleep oscillations develops during brain maturation an...

Precise temporal coordination of slow oscillations (SO) and sleep spindles is a fundamental mechanism of sleep-dependent memory consolidation. SO and spindle morphology changes considerably throughout development. Critically, it remains unknown how the precise temporal coordination of these two sleep oscillations develops during brain maturation an...