Research Article
Memory Processing during Sleep Mechanisms and Evidence from Neuroimaging Studies
Authors:
Philippe Peigneux ,
Cyclotron Research Centre B30, University of Liège - Sart Tilman, 4000 Liège, BE
Gwenaëlle Melchior,
Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, BE
Christina Schmidt,
Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, BE
Thanh Dang-Vu,
Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, BE
Mélany Boly,
Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, BE
Steven Laureys,
Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, BE
Pierre Maquet
Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, BE
Abstract
A growing number of studies support the hypothesis that sleep participates in the off-line processing of recent memories. However, many determinants and outcomes of memory reprocessing during sleep remain to be identified. This review provides a summary description of the main behavioural, neurophysiological and hemodynamic features of sleep, with a special emphasis on sleep mechanisms deemed potentially important to support sleep-related brain plasticity and memory consolidation: PGO-waves, spindles and hippocampal rhythms. Next are presented brain imaging studies having demonstrated the re-expression and modulation of learning-related cerebral activity during posttraining sleep in humans. As a whole, functional neuroimaging results nowadays suggest that learning-dependent modulations in cerebral activity during human sleep reflect the offline processing of recent memory traces, which eventually leads to the plastic changes underlying the subsequent improvement in performance.
How to Cite:
Peigneux, P., Melchior, G., Schmidt, C., Dang-Vu, T., Boly, M., Laureys, S. and Maquet, P., 2004. Memory Processing during Sleep Mechanisms and Evidence from Neuroimaging Studies. Psychologica Belgica, 44(1-2), pp.121–142. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/pb.1020
Published on
01 Jan 2004.
Peer Reviewed
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