Reactivating newly learned memories during sleep rather than when awake does a better job of strengthening the memory trace.
Reactivating newly learned memories during sleep rather than when awake does a better job of strengthening the memory trace.
Memory consolidation is a dynamic process. To study how brain works during sleep, researchers from America involved training participants in a memory task to learn an object's location in a grid. At the same time an odour was released - the idea being to associate the memory with the smell. One group then went to sleep, while the second group stayed awake.
After about 20 minutes, while the sleeping group's brain wave patterns were in slow wave sleep (SWS), both groups were subjected to the same odour again to reactivate the memory. After another 20 minutes, the sleeping group was woken, and both groups were given a similar task, but the objects were in different locations and without the odour. Half an hour later they were asked to recall the position of the cards from the original task.
It was found that both groups were correct about 60 per cent of the time without any odour assistance. But once the odour was added to the test, the non-sleeping group was only correct about 42 per cent of the time, compared to the sleeping group's 84 per cent.
The above findings prove that reactivation during waking destabilised memories. In contrast, reactivation during SWS immediately stabilised memories, thereby directly increasing their resistance to interference.
Memory consolidation is a dynamic process. To study how brain works during sleep, researchers from America involved training participants in a memory task to learn an object's location in a grid. At the same time an odour was released - the idea being to associate the memory with the smell. One group then went to sleep, while the second group stayed awake.
After about 20 minutes, while the sleeping group's brain wave patterns were in slow wave sleep (SWS), both groups were subjected to the same odour again to reactivate the memory. After another 20 minutes, the sleeping group was woken, and both groups were given a similar task, but the objects were in different locations and without the odour. Half an hour later they were asked to recall the position of the cards from the original task.
It was found that both groups were correct about 60 per cent of the time without any odour assistance. But once the odour was added to the test, the non-sleeping group was only correct about 42 per cent of the time, compared to the sleeping group's 84 per cent.
The above findings prove that reactivation during waking destabilised memories. In contrast, reactivation during SWS immediately stabilised memories, thereby directly increasing their resistance to interference.
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