IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0043426.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sleep Supports Selective Retention of Associative Memories Based on Relevance for Future Utilization

Author

Listed:
  • Eelco V van Dongen
  • Jan-Willem Thielen
  • Atsuko Takashima
  • Markus Barth
  • Guillén Fernández

Abstract

An outstanding question is whether memory consolidation occurs passively or involves active processes that selectively stabilize memories based on future utility. Here, we differentially modulated the expected future relevance of two sets of picture-location associations after learning. Participants first studied two sets of picture-location associations. After a baseline memory test, they were instructed that only one set of associations would be retested after a 14-hour delay. For half of the participants, this test-retest delay contained a night of sleep; for the other half the delay included a normal working day. At retest, participants were re-instructed and against their expectations tested on both sets of associations. Our results show that post-learning instruction about subsequent relevance selectively improves memory retention for specific associative memories. This effect was sleep-dependent; it was present only in the group of subjects for which the test-retest delay contained sleep. Moreover, time spent asleep for participants in this sleep group correlated with retention of relevant but not irrelevant associations; participants who slept longer forgot fewer associations from the relevant category. In contrast, participants that did not sleep forgot more relevant than irrelevant associations across the test-retest delay. In summary, our results indicate that it is possible to modulate the retention of selected memories after learning with simple verbal instructions on their future relevance. The finding that this effect depends on sleep demonstrates this state’s active role in memory consolidation and may have utility for educational settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Eelco V van Dongen & Jan-Willem Thielen & Atsuko Takashima & Markus Barth & Guillén Fernández, 2012. "Sleep Supports Selective Retention of Associative Memories Based on Relevance for Future Utilization," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(8), pages 1-6, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0043426
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043426
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0043426
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0043426&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0043426?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ullrich Wagner & Steffen Gais & Hilde Haider & Rolf Verleger & Jan Born, 2004. "Sleep inspires insight," Nature, Nature, vol. 427(6972), pages 352-355, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jennifer E Ashton & Scott A Cairney, 2021. "Future-relevant memories are not selectively strengthened during sleep," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-14, November.
    2. Alexander Prehn-Kristensen & Kristin Lotzkat & Eva Bauhofer & Christian D Wiesner & Lioba Baving, 2015. "Sleep Supports Memory of Odors in Adults but Not in Children," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-14, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Smith, Vernon L., 2005. "Behavioral economics research and the foundations of economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 135-150, March.
    2. Hamed Tajedin & Hamed Tajedin & Mohammad Keyhani, 2019. "A Theory of Digital Firm-Designed Markets: Defying Knowledge Constraints with Crowds and Marketplaces," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(4), pages 323-342, December.
    3. Kosha J. Mehta, 2022. "Effect of sleep and mood on academic performance—at interface of physiology, psychology, and education," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Kareem Abdou & Masanori Nomoto & Mohamed H. Aly & Ahmed Z. Ibrahim & Kiriko Choko & Reiko Okubo-Suzuki & Shin-ichi Muramatsu & Kaoru Inokuchi, 2024. "Prefrontal coding of learned and inferred knowledge during REM and NREM sleep," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Mathias Basner & Uwe Siebert, 2010. "Markov Processes for the Prediction of Aircraft Noise Effects on Sleep," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 30(2), pages 275-289, March.
    6. Dolan, Paul & Metcalfe, Robert, 2012. "The relationship between innovation and subjective wellbeing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 1489-1498.
    7. Guohong Helen Han & P. D. Harms & Yuntao Bai, 2017. "Nightmare Bosses: The Impact of Abusive Supervision on Employees’ Sleep, Emotions, and Creativity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 21-31, September.
    8. Amanda J. Williamson & Martina Battisti & Michael Leatherbee & J. Jeffrey Gish, 2019. "Rest, Zest, and My Innovative Best: Sleep and Mood as Drivers of Entrepreneurs’ Innovative Behavior," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(3), pages 582-610, May.
    9. Richard Curtin, 2021. "Nonconscious cognitive reasoning: A neglected ability shaping economic behavior," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 5(S3), pages 35-43, October.
    10. Hiuyan Lau & Sara E Alger & William Fishbein, 2011. "Relational Memory: A Daytime Nap Facilitates the Abstraction of General Concepts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-6, November.
    11. Sprugnoli, Giulia & Rossi, Simone & Emmendorfer, Alexandra & Rossi, Alessandro & Liew, Sook-Lei & Tatti, Elisa & di Lorenzo, Giorgio & Pascual-Leone, Alvaro & Santarnecchi, Emiliano, 2017. "Neural correlates of Eureka moment," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 99-118.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0043426. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.