Psychological Reports, 2010, 107, 1, 289-302. © Psychological Reports 2010 DOI 10.2466/10.13.20.22.PR0.107.4.289-302 ISSN 0033-2941 METAMEMORY BELIEFS AND EPISODIC MEMORY IN OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA SYNDROME 1 AGNÈS DAURAT AND NATHALIE HUET UMR 5263 CNRS–EPHE–Toulouse II University “CLLE-LTC” Laboratory MICHEL TIBERGE Sleep Research Laboratory Toulouse University Hospital Summary.—This study assessed metamemory and its role in actual episodic memory performance in 26 patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and 27 healthy controls. Metamemory knowledge and memory beliefs were assessed us- ing the Metamemory Inventory in Adulthood. Episodic memory performance was investigated with the Remember/Know paradigm. Subjective sleepiness was evalu- ated. Patients underwent a polysomnographic assessment. In contrast to the control group’s more stable memory beliefs, patients self-assessed their memory as declin- ing across time, and felt more anxious about their memory. There was only a mod- est difference between patients’ self-perceptions of their memory capacities and those of the control group, but patients’ actual memory performance was strongly disturbed. While the laer was significantly correlated with severity of obstructive sleep apnea, scores on the Metamemory Inventory in Adulthood scales were not correlated with physiological measures, subjective sleepiness, or episodic memory performance. Obstructive sleep apnea may affect prefrontal cortex functioning and hence the ability to assess one’s own memory impairment. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is characterized by repeated epi- sodes of complete or partial airflow interruptions during sleep, resulting in intermient hypoxemia associated with brief arousals. Neuropsycho- logical deficits, including memory, aention, motor ability, and executive function impairments, have all been reported for patients with obstructive sleep apnea (Bédard, Montplaisir, Richer, Rouleau, & Malo, 1991; Naëgelé, Thouvard, Pépin, Lévy, Bonnet, Perret, et al., 1995; Fulda & Shultz, 2001; Rouleau, Décary, Chicoine, & Montplaisir, 2002; Naismith, Winter, Gotso- poulos, Hickie, & Cistulli, 2004). The mechanisms responsible for these cognitive deficits are still unknown. Some researchers argue that excessive daytime sleepiness is the main cause of the cognitive deficit (Cheshire, En- gleman, Deary, Shapiro, & Douglas, 1992; Verstraeten, Cluydts, Pevernag- ie, & Hoffmann, 2004). Others, such as Lanfranchi and Somers (2001), pos- tulate that obstructive sleep apnea-related hypoxemia induces changes in the structure and function of the blood vessels which, in turn, are respon- sible for the neuropsychological disturbances. Finally, some data suggest that sleep fragmentation and intermient hypoxemia may affect similar 1 Address correspondence to Agnès Daurat, UMR 5263 CNRS–EPHE–Université Toulouse II, Laboratoire “CLLE-LTC,” 5 allées A. Machado, 31058, Toulouse Cedex 9, France or e-mail (daurat@univ-tlse2.fr).