Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
J Neurosci. 2012 Jan 18;32(3):1035-42. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2532-11.2012.
Sleep enhances memories, particularly emotional memories. As such, it has been suggested that sleep deprivation may reduce posttraumatic stress disorder. This presumes that emotional memory consolidation is paralleled by a reduction in emotional reactivity, an association that has not yet been examined. In the present experiment, we used an incidental memory task in humans and obtained valence and arousal ratings during two sessions separated either by 12 h of daytime wake or 12 h including overnight sleep. Recognition accuracy was greater following sleep relative to wake for both negative and neutral pictures. While emotional reactivity to negative pictures was greatly reduced over wake, the negative emotional response was relatively preserved over sleep. Moreover, protection of emotional reactivity was associated with greater time in REM sleep. Recognition accuracy, however, was not associated with REM. Thus, we provide the first evidence that sleep enhances emotional memory while preserving emotional reactivity.
睡眠可以增强记忆，尤其是情绪记忆。因此，有人提出，睡眠剥夺可能会降低创伤后应激障碍的风险。这是基于这样一种假设，即情绪记忆的巩固伴随着情绪反应的减少，而这种关联尚未得到检验。在本实验中，我们使用了人类的一种偶然记忆任务，并在两次间隔 12 小时的白天清醒或包括夜间睡眠的 12 小时中获得了效价和唤醒度评分。与清醒相比，睡眠后对负性和中性图片的识别准确率更高。虽然负性图片的情绪反应在清醒时大大降低，但在睡眠时，负性情绪反应相对保持。此外，情绪反应的保护与 REM 睡眠时间的增加有关。然而，识别准确率与 REM 无关。因此，我们首次提供了睡眠可以增强情绪记忆，同时保持情绪反应的证据。
