Interfering with Theories of Sleep and Memory: Sleep, Declarative Memory, and Associative Interference

Jeffrey M. Ellenbogen, Justin C. Hulbert, Robert Stickgold, David F. Dinges, Sharon L. Thompson-Schill

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

256 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mounting behavioral evidence in humans supports the claim that sleep leads to improvements in recently acquired, nondeclarative memories. Examples include motor-sequence learning [1, 2]; visual-discrimination learning [3]; and perceptual learning of a synthetic language [4]. In contrast, there are limited human data supporting a benefit of sleep for declarative (hippocampus-mediated) memory in humans (for review, see [5]). This is particularly surprising given that animal models (e.g., [6-8]) and neuroimaging studies (e.g., [9]) predict that sleep facilitates hippocampus-based memory consolidation. We hypothesized that we could unmask the benefits of sleep by challenging the declarative memory system with competing information (interference). This is the first study to demonstrate that sleep protects declarative memories from subsequent associative interference, and it has important implications for understanding the neurobiology of memory consolidation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1290-1294
Number of pages5
JournalCurrent Biology
Volume16
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 11 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • SYSNEURO

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)

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