Strengthening individual memories by reactivating them during sleep - PubMed (original) (raw)

Strengthening individual memories by reactivating them during sleep

John D Rudoy et al. Science. 2009.

Abstract

While asleep, people heard sounds that had earlier been associated with objects at specific spatial locations. Upon waking, they recalled these locations more accurately than other locations for which no reminder cues were provided. Consolidation thus operates during sleep with high specificity and is subject to systematic influences through simple auditory stimulation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1

Fig. 1

(A) Individuals learned object-location associations while hearing object sounds. Accuracy at the final stage of learning was matched for objects subsequently cued or not cued by the sounds (mean ± SE). (B) Sleep-staging data are shown for a representative participant, including the 3.5-min sequence of 25 sound cues. Vertex EEG responses differed according to level of forgetting for corresponding object locations. (C) After the nap, individuals attempted to place each object in its correct location (arrows simulate motion of objects as individuals complete the task). Better spatial-location retention for cued compared to uncued objects was reflected by a smaller change in error (_t_11 = 3.2, p < .01).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. McGaugh JL. Science. 2000;287:248–251. 2000. - PubMed
    1. Paller KA. In: Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Squire LR, editor. Academic Press; Oxford: 2009. pp. 741–749.
    1. Born J, Rasch B, Gais S. The Neuroscientist. 2006;12:410–424. - PubMed
    1. Stickgold R, Hobson JL, Fosse R, Fosse M. Science. 2001;294:1052–1057. - PubMed
    1. Rasch B, Büchel C, Gais S, Born J. Science. 2007;315:1426–1429. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources