Targeted memory reactivation during sleep boosts intentional forgetting of spatial locations.

ABSTRACT: Although we experience thousands of distinct events on a daily basis, relatively few are committed to memory. The human capacity to intentionally control which events will be remembered has been demonstrated using learning procedures with instructions to purposely avoid committing specific items to memory. In this study, we used a variant of the item-based directed-forgetting procedure and instructed participants to memorize the location of some images but not others on a grid. These instructions were conveyed using a set of auditory cues. Then, during an afternoon nap, we unobtrusively presented a cue that was used to instruct participant to avoid committing the locations of some images to memory. After sleep, memory was worse for to-be-forgotten image locations associated with the presen

SUBMITTER: Schechtman E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7012837 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature