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Dreaming of a learning task is associated with enhanced memory consolidation: Replication in an overnight sleep study.

Erin J. Wamsley, Robert Stickgold

Journal of Sleep Research February 1, 2019 DOI: 10.1111/jsr.12749 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational study Peer reviewed
Population Human participants
Duration Overnight
Topics Dreaming
Keywords Cognition Learning Sleep mentation
Key findings Dream content reflecting a pre-sleep spatial learning task is associated with improved next-morning performance.

Abstract

Sleep following learning benefits memory. One model attributes this effect to the iterative "reactivation" of memory traces in the sleeping brain, demonstrated in animal models. Although technical limitations prohibit using the same methods to observe memory reactivation in the human brain, the study of mental activity during sleep provides an alternative method of observing memory activation during sleep. In fact, the content of dream experience may reflect the process of memory reactivation and consolidation in the sleeping brain. In line with this hypothesis, we previously reported that dreaming about a spatial learning task during a nap strongly predicts subsequent performance improvements. Here, we replicate this observation in an overnight sleep study, for the first time demonstrating that pre-sleep training on a virtual maze navigation task is reflected in dreams reported from all phases of sleep, with unambiguous representation of the task in dream content associated with improved next-morning performance. These observations are consistent with reactivation-based models of memory consolidation in sleep, confirming our earlier finding that the cognitive-level activation of recent experience during sleep is associated with subsequent performance gains.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on dreaming, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... 2009 Observational study n = 6
Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years 2002 Prospective observational study n = 116
Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... 1987 Case-control study n = 11
The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams 2004 Observational cohort n = 147
Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects 2018 Observational cohort n = 14

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