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Isolated REM Sleep Facilitates Recall of Complex Associative Information
Author(s) -
Scrima Lawrence
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1982.tb02556.x
Subject(s) - non rapid eye movement sleep , psychology , recall , wakefulness , sleep (system call) , task (project management) , associative property , free recall , associative learning , cognitive psychology , audiology , recall test , electroencephalography , neuroscience , computer science , medicine , mathematics , management , pure mathematics , economics , operating system
This study directly tested the beneficial effect of isolated REM and isolated NREM sleep on the recall of narcoleptics. In a within subject design, 10 narcoleptics were instructed to sleep for a certain optimal duration and at a certain optimal time before each session, and were given 12–14 sessions, one a day, on different lists of a complex associative memory task and a minimally associative memory task. Following the 10‐min task, the subject either had 20 min of polygraphically recorded napping or card playing, followed by a free recall test. The results for the complex associative task indicated significant differences between the three conditions for free recall. Recall was significantly better after isolated REM than after isolated NREM sleep or wakefulness and was significantly better after NREM than after wakefulness. The results from the minimally associative task were inconclusive. The results are consistent with the proposed neuronal activity correlates (NAC) theory that REM sleep actively consolidates and/or integrates complex associative information and that NREM sleep passively prevents retroactive interference of recently acquired complex associative information.