Levels of Interference in Long and Short-Term Memory Differentially Modulate Non-REM and REM Sleep.

ABSTRACT:

Study objectives

It is commonly accepted that sleep is beneficial to memory processes, but it is still unclear if this benefit originates from improved memory consolidation or enhanced information processing. It has thus been proposed that sleep may also promote forgetting of undesirable and non-essential memories, a process required for optimization of cognitive resources. We tested the hypothesis that non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS) promotes forgetting of irrelevant information, more specifically when processing information in working memory (WM), while REM sleep (REMS) facilitates the consolidation of important information.

Methods

We recorded sleep patterns of rats trained in a radial maze in three different tasks engaging either the long-term or short-term storage

SUBMITTER: Fraize N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5103806 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature