Evidence suggests that in older adults, positive emotional memories are prioritized in order to enhance emotional well-being. Previous studies have demonstrated that sleep enhances negative emotional memories and preserves aspects of emotional reactivity associated with negative memories in young adults. Given that older adults prioritize positive memories, sleep may not preserve memory and reactivity for negative memories in this age group. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate the influence of sleep on negative memories and emotional reactivity in older adults. Healthy older (55–80 yrs) adults viewed a mixture of negative and neutral pictures. During a three-hour delay, participants either napped (Nap group) or participated in restful wake activities (Wake group). Afterwards, participants underwent a picture recognition task. Emotional reactivity associated with picture viewing was measured during both sessions using valence and arousal scales, skin conductance response, heart rate deceleration, and corrugator supercilii electromyography. Contrary to what was observed in young adults using this procedure (presented in Jones et al. abstract), preliminary data in older adults suggest no benefit of sleep on negative memories (Nap: M=0.772, SD=0.164; Wake: M=0.868, SD=0.078) and no preservation of valence ratings in the nap group compared to the wake group (Nap: M=0.147, SD=0.087; Wake: M=0.261, SD=0.354). However, there is evidence for the preservation of skin conductance response (Nap: M=0.020, SD=0.231; Wake: M=-0.127, SD=0.192) and heart rate deceleration response (Nap: M=3.167, SD=9.879; Wake: M=-4.087, SD=8.633) in older adults. These initial results suggest that some but not all aspects of emotional reactivity associated with negative memories may be preserved by sleep in older adults. Sleep-dependent consolidation of negative memory contents may decline with age. This work was funded by NIH R01 AG040133 (PI: Spencer).