Vagal heart rate variability during rapid eye movement sleep reduces negative memory bias.

ABSTRACT: Emotional memories change over time, but the mechanisms supporting this change are not well understood. Sleep has been identified as one mechanism that supports memory consolidation, with sleep selectively benefitting negative emotional consolidation at the expense of neutral memories, with specific oscillatory events linked to this process. In contrast, the consolidation of neutral and positive memories, compared to negative memories, has been associated with increased vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV) during wakefulness. However, how HRV during sleep contributes to emotional memory consolidation remains unexplored. We investigated how sleep oscillations (i.e., sleep spindles) and vagal activity during sleep contribute to the consolidation of neutral and negative memories. Usi

SUBMITTER: Morehouse AB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11891210 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature