Whitmore Nathan W, Paller Ken A
Department of Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 02139, USA
Fluid Interfaces Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 60208, USA.
Learn Mem. 2023 Mar 15;30(3):63-69. doi: 10.1101/lm.053615.122. Print 2023 Mar.
A widely accepted view in memory research is that recently stored information can be reactivated during sleep, leading to memory strengthening. Two recent studies have shown that this effect can be reversed in participants with highly disrupted sleep. To test whether weakening of reactivated memories can result directly from sleep disruption, in this experiment we varied the intensity of memory reactivation cues such that some produced sleep arousals. Prior to sleep, participants (local community members) learned the locations of 75 objects, each accompanied by a sound naturally associated with that object. Location recall was tested before and after sleep, and a subset of the sounds was presented during sleep to provoke reactivation of the corresponding locations. Reactivation with sleep arousal weakened memories, unlike the improvement typically found after reactivation without sleep arousal. We conclude that reactivated memories can be selectively weakened during sleep, and that memory reactivation may strengthen or weaken memories depending on additional factors such as concurrent sleep disruption.
记忆研究中一个被广泛接受的观点是，最近存储的信息在睡眠期间可以被重新激活，从而增强记忆。最近的两项研究表明，这种效应在睡眠严重紊乱的参与者中可以被逆转。为了测试重新激活的记忆的减弱是否直接由睡眠紊乱导致，在本实验中，我们改变了记忆重新激活线索的强度，使得一些线索会引起睡眠中的觉醒。在睡眠前，参与者（当地社区成员）学习了75个物体的位置，每个物体都伴随着一种与该物体自然相关的声音。在睡眠前后测试位置回忆，并且在睡眠期间呈现一部分声音以激发相应位置的重新激活。与没有睡眠觉醒的重新激活后通常出现的记忆改善不同，伴有睡眠觉醒的重新激活会削弱记忆。我们得出结论，重新激活的记忆在睡眠期间可以被选择性地削弱，并且记忆重新激活可能会增强或削弱记忆，这取决于诸如同时发生的睡眠紊乱等其他因素。
