Sleep improves prospective remembering by facilitating spontaneous-associative retrieval processes.

ABSTRACT: Memories are of the past but for the future, enabling individuals to implement intended plans and actions at the appropriate time. Prospective memory is the specific ability to remember and execute an intended behavior at some designated point in the future. Although sleep is well-known to benefit the consolidation of memories for past events, its role for prospective memory is still not well understood. Here, we show that sleep as compared to wakefulness after prospective memory instruction enhanced the successful execution of prospective memories two days later. We further show that sleep benefited both components of prospective memory, i.e. to remember that something has to be done (prospective component) and to remember what has to be done (retrospective component). Finally, sleep enha

SUBMITTER: Diekelmann S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3797070 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature