Sleep not just protects memories against forgetting, it also makes them more accessible
- PMID: 26227582
- DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.06.007
Sleep not just protects memories against forgetting, it also makes them more accessible
Abstract
Two published datasets (Dumay & Gaskell, 2007, Psychological Science; Tamminen, Payne, Stickgold, Wamsley, & Gaskell, 2010, Journal of Neuroscience) showing a positive influence of sleep on declarative memory were re-analyzed, focusing on the "fate" of each item at the 0-h test and 12-h retest. In particular, I looked at which items were retrieved at test and "maintained" (i.e., not forgotten) at retest, and which items were not retrieved at test, but eventually "gained" at retest. This gave me separate estimates of protection against loss and memory enhancement, which the classic approach relying on net recall/recognition levels has remained blind to. In both free recall and recognition, the likelihood of maintaining an item between test and retest, like that of gaining one at retest, was higher when the retention interval was filled with nocturnal sleep, as opposed to day-time (active) wakefulness. And, in both cases, the effect of sleep was stronger on gained than maintained items. Thus, if sleep indeed protects against retroactive, unspecific interference, it also clearly promotes access to those memories initially too weak to be retrieved. These findings call for an integrated approach including both passive (cell-level) and active (systems-level) consolidation, possibly unfolding in an opportunistic fashion.
Keywords: Forgetting; Item fate; Memory consolidation; Reminiscence; Sleep.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Comment in
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To gain or not to gain - The complex role of sleep for memory: Comment on Dumay (2016).Cortex. 2018 Apr;101:282-287. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.06.011. Epub 2016 Jun 24. Cortex. 2018. PMID: 27423210 No abstract available.
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Look more carefully: Even your data show sleep makes memories more accessible. A reply to Schreiner and Rasch (2018).Cortex. 2018 Apr;101:288-293. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.12.013. Epub 2017 Dec 27. Cortex. 2018. PMID: 29397098 No abstract available.
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