Budson Andrew E, Paller Ken A
Center for Translational Cognitive Neuroscience, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA.
Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Nat Sci Sleep. 2025 Aug 26;17:1957-1972. doi: 10.2147/NSS.S522975. eCollection 2025.
Insights into the mysteries of dreaming and waking conscious experience can be gained by considering fundamental concepts in memory research. To support this assertion, we first provide an overview of the conscious/nonconscious distinction in memory research and then summarize the memory theory of consciousness (MToC). According to the MToC, the brain system responsible for explicit memory is also responsible for all our conscious experiences-perceptions, thoughts, memories, imaginings, and dreams. Ordinarily, we experience a continuity of consciousness, even when we wake from a period of sleep. On the other hand, memory dysfunction can disrupt this continuity across sleep and lead to disorientation upon awakening. The relationship between sleep and consciousness comes into sharper focus when considering the proposition that most sleep-based memory processing is below the surface of what we can experience. During sleep, stored information is reactivated in the service of memory consolidation and, unlike dreams, this memory processing remains in the realm of implicit memory. We further propose that many multifarious memories can be simultaneously reactivated through this sleep-based processing, engaging both the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. At the same time, fragments of information from a subset of reactivated memories may be strung together to create a consciously experienced storyline or dream. In keeping with the MToC, we emphasize that conscious experiences, both while awake and while dreaming, are not read-outs of external reality even though they are typically experienced as such. Sensory experiences seem direct and instantaneous, but they are indirect and delayed because they require sensory processing to reach the explicit-memory system. Furthermore, because we remain oblivious to the unconscious memory processing that pervades our sleep, people generally underestimate the impact of sleep on our subsequent recollections and habits in the wake state. In sum, memory research enriches our understanding of consciousness in many ways.
通过思考记忆研究中的基本概念，可以深入了解做梦和清醒意识体验的奥秘。为了支持这一论断，我们首先概述记忆研究中意识/无意识的区别，然后总结意识的记忆理论（MToC）。根据MToC，负责显性记忆的大脑系统也负责我们所有的意识体验——感知、思想、记忆、想象和梦境。通常情况下，即使我们从一段睡眠中醒来，我们也会体验到意识的连续性。另一方面，记忆功能障碍会破坏睡眠期间的这种连续性，并导致醒来时迷失方向。当考虑到大多数基于睡眠的记忆处理都在我们能够体验到的表面之下这一观点时，睡眠与意识之间的关系就更加清晰了。在睡眠期间，存储的信息会被重新激活以促进记忆巩固，与梦境不同的是，这种记忆处理仍处于隐性记忆的范畴。我们进一步提出，通过这种基于睡眠的处理，许多各种各样的记忆可以同时被重新激活，涉及海马体和大脑皮层。与此同时，来自重新激活的记忆子集中的信息片段可能会被串连在一起，以创造一个有意识体验到的故事情节或梦境。与MToC一致，我们强调，清醒时和做梦时的意识体验，即使通常被体验为对外部现实的读取，但实际上并非如此。感官体验看似直接和即时，但它们是间接和延迟的，因为它们需要经过感官处理才能到达显性记忆系统。此外，由于我们对贯穿睡眠的无意识记忆处理浑然不觉，人们通常低估了睡眠对我们清醒状态下后续回忆和习惯的影响。总之，记忆研究在许多方面丰富了我们对意识的理解。
