Offline memory consolidation during waking rest

Wamsley, Erin J.

doi:10.1038/s44159-022-00072-w

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 189 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Activating episodic memory traces out of their original order can facilitate efficient memory storage and can help optimize semantic memory (Mills et al, 2018). Previous research has established that the content of spontaneous thought is largely episodic (Baird et al, 2011;Smallwood & Andrews-Hanna, 2013;Smallwood & Schooler, 2015;Song & Wang, 2012;Stawarczyk et al, 2013) and that spontaneous thought can facilitate memory consolidation (Mills et al, 2018;Tambini & Davachi, 2019;Wamsley, 2022). Here, we show that the dynamics of spontaneous thought appear to be optimized to support this function.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…During memory replay, new experiences are consolidated (Born & Wilhelm, 2012;Ellenbogen et al, 2007;Fachechi et al, 2019;Tambini et al, 2010;Wamsley, 2019). There is evidence that periods of rest after learning new information can enhance memory for this information (Dewar et al, 2014;Tambini & Davachi, 2019;Wamsley, 2022). Memory-related neural activity during the rest period predicts the extent to which rest facilitates memory consolidation, suggesting that this effect results from memory replay during rest (Ben-Yakov & Dudai, 2011;Craig et al, 2015;Tambini et al, 2010;Tambini & Davachi, 2013;Wamsley, 2019;Wamsley & Summer, 2020).…”

Section: Memory Optimization Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Why do we think? The dynamics of spontaneous thought reveal its functions

Mildner

Tamir

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spontaneous thought makes up most of everyday cognition. Why do we devote so much time and cognitive resources to spontaneous thought? Here, we test two of the leading hypotheses about the functions of spontaneous thought: First, we test the hypothesis that spontaneous thought improves memory efficiency. Under this hypothesis, the dynamics of spontaneous thought should resemble the pseudorandom memory replays that optimize memory storage and facilitate learning such that spontaneous thought prioritizes detailed, vivid simulations. Next, we test the hypothesis that spontaneous thought helps us achieve our goals. Under this hypothesis, spontaneous thought should prioritize goal-relevant content. We use natural language processing tools to quantify the dynamics of thought in a large sample of think aloud data. Results suggest that the dynamics of spontaneous thought both support memory optimization and keep us focused on current concerns.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Memory Optimization Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do we think? The dynamics of spontaneous thought reveal its functions

Mildner

Tamir

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In particular, the opportunity cost hypothesis holds that cognitive effort occurs when the reward value of the current task under execution is less than the potential reward value of an alternative task, thereby promoting a shift to the other task (Agrawal et al, 2022;Boureau et al, 2015;Inzlicht et al, 2014;Kurzban et al, 2013). Cognitive effort could also induce pauses in cognitive activity that allow new memories to be consolidated in cortex (Agrawal et al, 2022;Holroyd & Verguts, 2021), consistent with computational arguments (Roscow et al, 2021) and biological (Holroyd & Verguts, 2021) and behavioral (Gershman et al, 2014;Wamsley, 2022) evidence of this.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…Evidently, these processes are complementary, each opportunistically exploiting the opening afforded by sleep. Likewise, it has been suggested that cognitive effort promotes periods of waking rest that both facilitate consolidation of new memories in cortex (Agrawal et al, 2022;Holroyd & Verguts, 2021; see also Wamsley, 2022) and promote the clearance of toxic waste products from the brain (Holroyd, 2016). Hence, it seems possible that cognitive effort motivates the transition to a restful state for similar reasons that sleepiness tends to induce sleep.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Controllosphere: The Neural Origin of Cognitive Effort

Holroyd¹

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Why do some mental activities feel harder than others? The answer to this question is surprisingly controversial. Current theories propose that cognitive effort affords a computational benefit, such as instigating a switch from an activity with low reward value to a different activity with higher reward value. By contrast, in this article I relate cognitive effort to the fact that brain neuroanatomy and neurophysiology render some neural states more energy-efficient than others. I introduce the concept of the “controllosphere,” an energy-inefficient region of neural state space associated with high control, which surrounds the better-known “intrinsic manifold”, an energy-efficient subspace associated with low control. Integration of control-theoretic principles with classic neurocomputational models of cognitive control suggests that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) implements a controller that can drive the system state into the controllosphere, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) implements an observer that monitors changes of state of the controlled system, and cognitive effort reflects a mismatch between DLPFC and ACC energies for control and observation. On this account, cognitive effort scales with the energetic demands of the DLPFC control signal, especially when the consequences of the control are unobservable by ACC. Further, I propose that neural transitions through the controllosphere lead to a buildup of neural waste. Cognitive effort therefore prevents against neural damage by discouraging extended periods of high control.

show abstract

“…More recently, researchers have developed an intriguing experimental paradigm to examine memory consolidation using “wakeful rest”, a brief period (roughly 10 min) of minimal stimulation while individuals are awake (for review, see [ 19 , 20 ]). In a typical wakeful rest paradigm, participants encode memory stimuli, then often complete an expected immediate memory retrieval test for those stimuli.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wakeful Rest Benefits Recall, but Not Recognition, of Incidentally Encoded Memory Stimuli in Younger and Older Adults

Millar

Balota

2022

Brain Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Older adults exhibit deficits in episodic memory tasks, which have often been attributed to encoding or retrieval deficits, with little attention to consolidation mechanisms. More recently, researchers have attempted to measure consolidation in the context of a behavioral experiment using the wakeful rest paradigm (i.e., a brief, quiet period of minimal stimulation, which facilitates memory performance, compared to a distractor task). Critically, older adults might not produce this effect, given established age differences in other episodic memory processes and mind-wandering. In three experiments, we directly compared younger and older adults in modified versions of the wakeful rest paradigm. Critically, we utilized incidental encoding procedures (all experiments) and abstract shape stimuli (in Experiment 3) to limit the possibility of retrieval practice or maintenance rehearsal as potential confounding mechanisms in producing the wakeful rest effect. Wakeful rest reliably and equally benefited recall of incidentally encoded words in both younger and older adults. In contrast, wakeful rest had no benefit for standard accuracy measures of recognition performance in verbal stimuli, although there was an effect in response latencies for non-verbal stimuli. Overall, these results suggest that the benefits of wakeful rest on episodic retrieval are preserved across age groups, and hence support age-independence in potential consolidation mechanisms as measured by wakeful rest. Further, these benefits do not appear to be dependent on the intentionality of encoding or variations in distractor task types. Finally, the lack of wakeful rest benefits on recognition performance might be driven by theoretical constraints on the effect or methodological limitations of recognition memory testing in the current paradigm.

show abstract

Offline memory consolidation during waking rest

Cited by 23 publications

References 189 publications

Why do we think? The dynamics of spontaneous thought reveal its functions

Why do we think? The dynamics of spontaneous thought reveal its functions

The Controllosphere: The Neural Origin of Cognitive Effort

Wakeful Rest Benefits Recall, but Not Recognition, of Incidentally Encoded Memory Stimuli in Younger and Older Adults

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About