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Young woman asleep over study materials. The relationship between sleep and memory has been studied since at least the early 19th century.Memory, the cognitive process of storing and retrieving past experiences, learning and recognition, [1] is a product of brain plasticity, the structural changes within synapses that create associations between stimuli.
If PKA or protein synthesis inhibition occurs at certain moments during sleep, memory consolidation can be disrupted [citation needed]. In addition, mice with genetic inhibition of PKA have been shown to have long-term memory deficits. [48] Thus, sleep deprivation may act through the inhibition of these protein synthesis pathways.
Research indicates that sleep does more than allow the brain to rest; it may also aid the consolidation of long-term memories. REM sleep and slow-wave sleep play different roles in memory consolidation. REM is associated with the consolidation of nondeclarative (implicit) memories. An example of a nondeclarative memory would be a task we can do ...
A contracted pupil during sleep may be an indication the brain is replaying new memories while a dilated one may hint at older memories being relived, a new study suggests.. The study, published ...
For example, declarative and procedural memory-recall tasks applied over early and late nocturnal sleep, as well as wakefulness controlled conditions, have been shown that declarative memory improves more during early sleep (dominated by SWS) while procedural memory during late sleep (dominated by REM sleep) does so. [101] [102]
Recent studies have also shown that sleep not only helps consolidate memory, but also integrates relational memories. In one study, the participants were tested to see if sleep helped in this aspect (Ellenbogen et al., 2007, as cited in Walker, 2009). The subjects of the experiment were taught five "premise pairs", A>B, B>C, C>D, and D>E.
Other studies have been also looking at the specific effects of different stages of sleep on different types of memory. For example, it has been found that sleep deprivation does not significantly affect recognition of faces, but can produce a significant impairment of temporal memory (discriminating which face belonged to which set shown).
Sleep can also affect your metabolism. Getting less sleep may decrease your resting metabolic rate and increase your risk of diabetes. A long-term lack of sleep may make weight loss harder and ...