Sleep loss disrupts the neural signature of successful learning.
Scientific Abstract
Sleep supports memory consolidation as well as next-day learning. The influential "Active Systems" account of offline consolidation suggests that sleep-associated memory processing paves the way for new learning, but empirical evidence in support of this idea is scarce. Using a within-subjects (n = 30), crossover design, we assessed behavioral and electrophysiological indices of episodic encoding after a night of sleep or total sleep deprivation in healthy adults (aged 18-25 years) and investigated whether behavioral performance was predicted by the overnight consolidation of episodic associations from the previous day. Sleep supported memory consolidation and next-day learning as compared to sleep deprivation. However, the magnitude of this sleep-associated consolidation benefit did not significantly predict the ability to form novel memories after sleep. Interestingly, sleep deprivation prompted a qualitative change in the neural signature of encoding: Whereas 12-20 Hz beta desynchronization-an established marker of successful encoding-was observed after sleep, sleep deprivation disrupted beta desynchrony during successful learning. Taken together, these findings suggest that effective learning depends on sleep but not necessarily on sleep-associated consolidation.
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Sleep loss disrupts the neural signature of successful learning.
Scientific Abstract
Sleep supports memory consolidation as well as next-day learning. The influential "Active Systems" account of offline consolidation suggests that sleep-associated memory processing paves the way for new learning, but empirical evidence in support of this idea is scarce. Using a within-subjects (n = 30), crossover design, we assessed behavioral and electrophysiological indices of episodic encoding after a night of sleep or total sleep deprivation in healthy adults (aged 18-25 years) and investigated whether behavioral performance was predicted by the overnight consolidation of episodic associations from the previous day. Sleep supported memory consolidation and next-day learning as compared to sleep deprivation. However, the magnitude of this sleep-associated consolidation benefit did not significantly predict the ability to form novel memories after sleep. Interestingly, sleep deprivation prompted a qualitative change in the neural signature of encoding: Whereas 12-20 Hz beta desynchronization-an established marker of successful encoding-was observed after sleep, sleep deprivation disrupted beta desynchrony during successful learning. Taken together, these findings suggest that effective learning depends on sleep but not necessarily on sleep-associated consolidation.
Citation
2023. Cereb Cortex, 33(5):1610-1625.
DOI
10.1093/cercor/bhac159
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PMC9977378Similar content
Paper
Investigating the formation and consolidation of incidentally learned trust.
2020. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn, 46(4):684-698.
Free Full Text at Europe PMC
PMC7115124
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Sleep Preserves Physiological Arousal in Emotional Memory.
2019. Sci Rep, 9(1):5966.
Free Full Text at Europe PMC
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Memory Consolidation Is Linked to Spindle-Mediated Information Processing during Sleep.
2018. Curr Biol, 28(6):948-954.e4.
Free Full Text at Europe PMC
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Preprint