Does sleep-dependent consolidation favour weak memories?

Petzka, Marit; Charest, Ian; Balanos, George M.; Staresina, Bernhard P.

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2020.10.005

Cited by 35 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…A common thread is that all of these studies assessed memory for individual items (e.g., object pictures), rather than meaningful narrative events. It is possible that, lacking an obvious organization (e.g., narratives), inter-item associations in these studies were initially weak (Petzka et al, 2021;Schapiro et al, 2018), such that these items could more easily interfere with each other in memory. If so, these item-based paradigms may have provided more of an opportunity for sleep to strengthen associations (Lewis & Durrant, 2011) or reduce interference (Yonelinas et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Our findings did not provide consistent support for this hypothesis. Although this null result might be seen as a challenge to consolidation theories, it is important to note that several studies have demonstrated that sleep-dependent consolidation can reorganize information in memory (e.g., Antony et al, 2018;Liu & Ranganath, 2019;Petzka et al, 2021;Saletin et al, 2011;Schapiro et al, 2017). For example, Liu and Ranganath (2019) found that sleep-dependent memory consolidation was necessary for temporally distant, semantically related pictures of objects to exhibit retrieval facilitation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Narratives bridge the divide between distant events in episodic memory

et al. 2021

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Many studies suggest that information about past experience, or episodic memory, is divided into discrete units called “events.” Yet we can often remember experiences that span multiple events. Events that occur in close succession might simply be linked because of their proximity to one another, but we can also build links between events that occur farther apart in time. Intuitively, some kind of organizing principle should enable temporally distant events to become bridged in memory. We tested the hypothesis that episodic memory exhibits a narrative-level organization, enabling temporally distant events to be better remembered if they form a coherent narrative. Furthermore, we tested whether post-encoding memory consolidation is necessary to integrate temporally distant events. In three experiments, participants learned and subsequently recalled events from fictional stories, in which pairs of temporally distant events involving side characters (“sideplots”) either formed one coherent narrative or two unrelated narratives. Across participants, we varied whether recall was assessed immediately after learning, or after a delay: 24 hours, 12 hours between morning and evening (“wake”), or 12 hours between evening and morning (“sleep”). Participants recalled more information about coherent than unrelated narrative events, in most delay conditions, including immediate recall and wake conditions, suggesting that post-encoding consolidation was not necessary to integrate temporally distant events into a larger narrative. Furthermore, post hoc modeling across experiments suggested that narrative coherence facilitated recall over and above any effects of sentence-level semantic similarity. This reliable memory benefit for coherent narrative events supports theoretical accounts which propose that narratives provide a high-level architecture for episodic memory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Narratives bridge the divide between distant events in episodic memory

et al. 2021

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“…It is nevertheless important to consider that memory retention at baseline was generally poorer for implausible than plausible noun-colour pairings, suggesting that implausible associations were more weakly encoded than their plausible counterparts. Because previous work has shown that the memory benefits of sleep are more robust for weakly relative to strongly encoded materials (Denis et al, 2021(Denis et al, , 2020Payne, Chambers, & Kensinger, 2012;Schmidt et al, 2006, but also see Petzka et al, 2021), the amplified overnight memory gains for implausible (vs plausible) memories observed in the current study might reflect an impact of memory strength, rather than schematic congruency, on sleep-associated consolidation. Yet, if this were the case, a three-way interaction should have emerged in our Group * Rehearsal Strategy * Plausibility ANOVA, with the weakest memories (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 45%

“…Contemporary models of sleep-associated memory processing propose that memories are reactivated during sleep, and thereby integrated into long-term storage (Antony et al, 2019;Diekelmann & Born, 2010;Klinzing, Niethard, & Born, 2019;Lewis & Durrant, 2011;Rasch & Born, 2007. However, sleep does not benefit all memories equally, with accumulating evidence suggesting that overnight memory gains are more robust for weakly encoded than strongly encoded materials (Denis et al, 2021(Denis et al, , 2020Payne, Chambers, & Kensinger, 2012;Schmidt et al, 2006, but also see Petzka et al, 2021). Relatedly, efforts to enhance overnight consolidation via memory cueing in sleep are most effective when pre-sleep learning performance is low (Cairney, Lindsay, Sobczak, Paller, & Gaskell, 2016;Creery, Oudiette, Antony, & Paller, 2015;Schechtman et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleep bolsters schematically incongruent memories

Ashton¹,

Staresina²,

Cairney³

2021

Preprint

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Our ability to recall memories is improved when sleep follows learning, suggesting that sleep facilitates memory consolidation. A number of factors are thought to influence the impact of sleep on newly learned information, such as whether or not we rehearse that information (e.g. via restudy or retrieval practice), or the extent to which the information is consistent with our pre-existing schematic knowledge. In this pre-registered, online study, we examined the effects of both rehearsal and schematic congruency on overnight consolidation. Participants learned noun-colour pairings (e.g. elephant-red) and rated each pairing as plausible or implausible before completing a baseline memory assessment. Afterwards, participants engaged in a period of restudy or retrieval practice for the pairings, and then entered a 12 h retention interval of overnight sleep or daytime wakefulness. Follow-up assessments were completed immediately after sleep or wake, and again 24 h after learning. Our data indicated that overnight consolidation was amplified for restudied relative to retested noun-colour pairings, but only when sleep occurred soon after learning. Furthermore, whereas plausible (i.e. schematically congruent) pairings were generally better remembered than implausible (i.e. schematically incongruent) pairings, sleep (vs wake) reduced the retention advantage for plausible (vs implausible) information. This finding challenges the notion that schema-conformant memories are preferentially strengthened during post-learning sleep.

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“…In fact, growing empirical evidence has shown that a certain minimum level of memory strength at encoding is necessary for the sleep benefit to occur (e.g., Denis et al, 2020;Muehlroth et al, 2020;Rauchs et al, 2011). More specifically, floor effects might counteract memory consolidation benefits during sleep when encoding strength is very low (Petzka et al, 2021). In contrast, when encoding strength increases beyond a medium level up to very high levels, then sleep benefits should decrease again.…”

Section: Focal Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sleep Benefit in Episodic Memory: An Integrative Review and a Meta-Analysis

Berres¹,

Erdfelder²

2022

Preprint

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People recall more information after sleep than after an equally long period of wakefulness. This sleep benefit in episodic memory has been documented in almost a century of research. However, an integrative review of hypothesized underlying processes, a comprehensive quantification of the benefit, and a systematic investigation of potential moderators has been missing so far. Here, we address these issues by analyzing 823 effect sizes from 271 independent samples that were reported in 177 articles published between 1967 and 2019. Using multilevel meta-regressions with robust variance estimates, we found a moderate overall sleep benefit in episodic memory (g = 0.44). Moderator analyses revealed four important findings: First, the sleep benefit is larger when stimuli are studied multiple times instead of just once. Second, for word materials, the effect size depends on the retrieval procedure: It is largest in free recall, followed by cued recall and recognition tasks. Third, the sleep benefit is stronger in pre-post difference measures of retention than in delayed memory tests. Fourth, sleep benefits are larger for natural sleep and nighttime naps than foralternative sleep-study designs (e.g., SWS-deprived sleep, daytime naps). Although there was no obvious evidence for selective reporting, it is a potential threat to the validity of the results. When accounting for selective reporting bias, the overall effect of sleep on episodic memory is reduced but still significant (g = 0.28). We argue that our results support an integrative, multi-causal theoretical account of sleep-induced episodic memory benefits and provide guidance to increase their replicability.

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Does sleep-dependent consolidation favour weak memories?

Cited by 35 publications

References 42 publications

Narratives bridge the divide between distant events in episodic memory

Narratives bridge the divide between distant events in episodic memory

Sleep bolsters schematically incongruent memories

The Sleep Benefit in Episodic Memory: An Integrative Review and a Meta-Analysis

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