The DOI matches its Crossref record; 65 of the 65 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Dreaming and Offline Memory Consolidation
Open accessAbstract
Converging evidence suggests that dreaming is influenced by the consolidation of memory during sleep. Following encoding, recently formed memory traces are gradually stabilized and reorganized into a more permanent form of long-term storage. Sleep provides an optimal neurophysiological state to facilitate this process, allowing memory networks to be repeatedly reactivated in the absence of new sensory input. The process of memory reactivation and consolidation in the sleeping brain appears to influence conscious experience during sleep, contributing to dream content recalled on awakening. This article outlines several lines of evidence in support of this hypothesis, and responds to some common objections.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Despite their realism, dreams, especially from rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, often feature bizarre and creative elements, mostly because they do not simply replay previous experiences [5-7].”
From How Adversarial REM Dreams May Facilitate Creativity, and Why We Become Aware of Them (2024) · cites this paper as [7]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Indeed, it is openly admitted that the consolidation hypothesis still views dreams themselves as epiphenomena.54”
From The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization (2021) · cites this paper as [54]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Perhaps the leading contemporary theory is that dreams somehow involve memory consolidation and storage,53 often via a proposed form of memory replay.54”
From The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization (2021) · cites this paper as [54]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“According to this hypothesis, dreams are not epiphenomena, either in the sense of neutral evolution but also in the sense of not being an expression of some other background process, such as patterns of activity and associated experiences merely brought about by some other processing integrating new memories.54 Rather, the point of dreams is the dreams themselves, because they provide departures a”
From The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization (2021) · cites this paper as [54]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
McClelland, J. L., McNaughton, B. L., & O'Reilly, R. C. (1995) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.102.3.419 · Cited by 5,256
Reactivation of hippocampal ensemble memories during sleep
Wilson, M. A., & McNaughton, B. L. (1994) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.8036517 · Cited by 3,118
Coordinated memory replay in the visual cortex and hippocampus during sleep
Ji, D., & Wilson, M. A. (2007) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1825 · Cited by 1,669
Practice with Sleep Makes Perfect
Walker, M. P., Brakefield, T., Morgan, A., Hobson, J. A., & Stickgold, R. (2002) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(02)00746-8 · Cited by 1,307
Memory of sequential experience in the hippocampus during slow wave sleep
Lee, A. K., & Wilson, M. A. (2002) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(02)01096-6 · Cited by 1,296
Temporally structured replay of awake hippocampal ensemble activity during rapid eye movement sleep
Louie, K., & Wilson, M. A. (2001) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(01)00186-6 · Cited by 1,148
Effects of early and late nocturnal sleep on declarative and procedural memory
Plihal, W., & Born, J. (1997) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.1997.9.4.534 · Cited by 1,026
Wagner, U., Gais, S., Haider, H., Verleger, R., & Born, J. (2004) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature02223 · Cited by 1,012
The brain as a dream state generator: an activation-synthesis hypothesis of the dream process
Hobson, J. A., & McCarley, R. W. (1977) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.134.12.1335 · Cited by 984
Crick, F., & Mitchison, G. (1983) · Nature · doi:10.1038/304111a0 · Cited by 865
Are spatial memories strengthened in the human hippocampus during slow wave sleep?
Peigneux, P., Laureys, S., Fuchs, S., Collette, F., Perrin, F., Reggers, J., Phillips, C., Degueldre, C., Del Fiore, G., Aerts, J., et al. (2004) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2004.10.007 · Cited by 766
Kudrimoti, H. S., Barnes, C. A., & McNaughton, B. L. (1999) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.19-10-04090.1999 · Cited by 753
Hippocampal replay is not a simple function of experience
Gupta, A. S., van der Meer, M. A. A., Touretzky, D. S., & Redish, A. D. (2010) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2010.01.034 · Cited by 733
Visual discrimination learning requires sleep after training
Stickgold, R., James, L., & Hobson, J. A. (2000) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/81756 · Cited by 715
Fast-Forward Playback of Recent Memory Sequences in Prefrontal Cortex During Sleep
Euston, D. R., Tatsuno, M., & McNaughton, B. L. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1148979 · Cited by 586
REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks
Cai, D. J., Mednick, S. A., Harrison, E. M., Kanady, J. C., & Mednick, S. C. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0900271106 · Cited by 556
Daytime naps, motor memory consolidation and regionally specific sleep spindles
Nishida, M., & Walker, M. P. (2007) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000341 · Cited by 531
Overlapping memory replay during sleep builds cognitive schemata
Lewis, P. A., & Durrant, S. J. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.06.004 · Cited by 512
Play it again: reactivation of waking experience and memory
O’Neill, J., Pleydell-Bouverie, B., Dupret, D., & Csicsvari, J. (2010) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/j.tins.2010.01.006 · Cited by 480
Sleep spindle activity is associated with the integration of new memories and existing knowledge
Tamminen, J., Payne, J. D., Stickgold, R., Wamsley, E. J., & Gaskell, M. G. (2010) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3028-10.2010 · Cited by 478
Self-citationSleep preferentially enhances memory for emotional components of scenes
Payne, J. D., Stickgold, R., Swanberg, K., & Kensinger, E. A. (2008) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02157.x · Cited by 440
Human relational memory requires time and sleep
Ellenbogen, J. M., Hu, P. T., Payne, J. D., Titone, D., & Walker, M. P. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0700094104 · Cited by 415
Dreaming and episodic memory: a functional dissociation?
Fosse, M. J., Fosse, R., Hobson, J. A., & Stickgold, R. J. (2003) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892903321107774 · Cited by 388
Naps promote abstraction in language-learning infants
Gómez, R. L., Bootzin, R. R., & Nadel, L. (2006) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01764.x · Cited by 386
Ellenbogen, J. M., Hulbert, J. C., Stickgold, R., Dinges, D. F., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2006) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.05.024 · Cited by 377
A daytime nap containing solely non-REM sleep enhances declarative but not procedural memory
Tucker, M., HIROTA, Y., Wamsley, E. J., LAU, H., Chaklader, A., & Fishbein, W. I. (2006) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2006.03.005 · Cited by 376
Self-citationThe relation of eye movements, body motility, and external stimuli to dream content
Dement, W., & Wolpert, E. A. (1958) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0040031 · Cited by 372
Biasing the content of hippocampal replay during sleep
Bendor, D., & Wilson, M. A. (2012) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.3203 · Cited by 359
The scientific study of dreams: Neural networks, cognitive development, and content analysis.
Domhoff, G. W. (2003) · doi:10.1037/10463-000 · Cited by 355
Sleep facilitates consolidation of emotional declarative memory
Hu, P., Stylos-Allan, M., & Walker, M. P. (2006) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01799.x · Cited by 355
The role of sleep in false memory formation
Payne, J. D., Schacter, D. L., Propper, R. E., Huang, L.-W., Wamsley, E. J., Tucker, M. A., Walker, M. P., & Stickgold, R. (2009) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2009.03.007 · Cited by 269
Self-citationReplaying the game: hypnagogic images in normals and amnesics
Stickgold, R., Malia, A., Maguire, D., Roddenberry, D., & O'Connor, M. (2000) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.290.5490.350 · Cited by 261
Dreaming of a learning task is associated with enhanced sleep-dependent memory consolidation
Wamsley, E. J., Tucker, M., Payne, J. D., Benavides, J. A., & Stickgold, R. (2010) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.03.027 · Cited by 255
Self-citationGroch, S., Wilhelm, I., Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2013) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2012.10.006 · Cited by 208
Vertes, R. P. (2004) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2004.08.034 · Cited by 198
Payne, J. D., Tucker, M. A., Ellenbogen, J. M., Wamsley, E. J., Walker, M. P., Schacter, D. L., & Stickgold, R. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033079 · Cited by 181
Self-citationLaureys, S., Peigneux, P., Phillips, C. L. M., Fuchs, S., Degueldre, C., Aerts, J. J., Fiore, G. D., Petiau, C., Luxen, A., der Linden, M. V., et al. (2001) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/s0306-4522(01)00269-x · Cited by 155
Presleep Determinants of Dream Content: Effects of Two Films
Foulkes, D., & Rechtschaffen, A. (1964) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.1964.19.3.983 · Cited by 143
Wamsley, E. J., Perry, K., Djonlagic, I., Reaven, L. B., & Stickgold, R. (2010) · Sleep · doi:10.1093/sleep/33.1.59 · Cited by 124
Self-citationBaylor, G. W., & Corrado Cavallero, P. (2001) · SLEEP · doi:10.1093/sleep/24.2.165 · Cited by 106
Temporal Reference of Manifest Dream Content
Verdone, P. (1965) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.1965.20.3c.1253 · Cited by 101
Goodenough, D. R., Witkin, H. A., Koulack, D., & Cohen, H. D. (1975) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1975.tb01298.x · Cited by 96
Wamsley, E. J., Tucker, M. A., Payne, J. D., & Stickgold, R. (2010) · Learning & Memory · doi:10.1101/lm.1828310 · Cited by 89
Self-citationAlger, S. E., Lau, H., & Fishbein, W. (2012) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2012.06.003 · Cited by 86
THE INFLUENCE OF THE LABORATORY SITUATION ON THE DREAMS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL SUBJECT
Dement, W. C., Kahn, E., & Roffwarg, H. P. (1965) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/00005053-196502000-00002 · Cited by 84
Sleep to find your way: The role of sleep in the consolidation of memory for navigation in humans
Ferrara, M., Iaria, G., Tempesta, D., Curcio, G., Moroni, F., Marzano, C., Gennaro, L. D., & Pacitti, C. (2008) · Hippocampus · doi:10.1002/hipo.20444 · Cited by 84
Relational Memory: A Daytime Nap Facilitates the Abstraction of General Concepts
Lau, H., Alger, S. E., & Fishbein, W. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027139 · Cited by 75
Assessing the dream-lag effect for rem and nrem stage 2 dreams
Blagrove, M., Fouquet, N. C., Henley-Einion, J. A., Pace-Schott, E. F., Davies, A. C., Neuschaffer, J. L., & Turnbull, O. H. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026708 · Cited by 75
Memory Sources of REM and NREM Dreams
Cavallero, C., Foulkes, D., Hollifield, M. A., & Terry, R. (1990) · SLEEP · doi:10.1093/sleep/13.5.449 · Cited by 73
Overnight Sleep Enhances Hippocampus-Dependent Aspects of Spatial Memory.
Nguyen, N. D., Tucker, M. A., Stickgold, R., & Wamsley, E. J. (2013) · SLEEP · doi:10.5665/sleep.2808 · Cited by 72
Self-citationDreaming Souls: Sleep, Dreams, and the Evolution of the Conscious Mind
Rowlands, M., & Flanagan, O. (2001) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1423691 · Cited by 68
Effect of an Erotic Movie on the Sleep and Dreams of Young Men
CARTWRIGHT, R. D. (1969) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1969.01740150006002 · Cited by 64
Maury, A., & Cie, D. (1865) · Cited by 59
(1990) · PubMed · Cited by 51
The role of sleep in the consolidation of route learning in humans: A behavioural study
Ferrara, M., Iaria, G., Gennaro, L. D., Guariglia, C., Curcio, G., Tempesta, D., & Bertini, M. (2006) · Brain Research Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.brainresbull.2006.07.015 · Cited by 48
Kussé, C., Bourdiec, A. S.-L., Schrouff, J., Matarazzo, L., & Maquet, P. (2011) · Journal of Sleep Research · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2869.2011.00939.x · Cited by 44
The dream always makes new connections: the dream is a creation, not a replay
Hartmann, E. (2010) · Sleep Medicine Clinics · doi:10.1016/j.jsmc.2010.01.009 · Cited by 39
Les rêves et les moyens de les diriger
de Saint-Denys, L. D. H., & Desoille, R. (1977) · Editions d'Aujourd'hui eBooks · Cited by 36
Vertical inversion of the visual field and rem sleep mentation
De Koninck, J., PRÉVOST, F., & LORTIE‐LUSSIER, M. (1996) · Journal of Sleep Research · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2869.1996.00001.x · Cited by 32
Stickgold, R., & Walker, M. P. (2009) · Cited by 22
Flanagan, O. (1999) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195126877.001.0001 · Cited by 21
Dream Content after Using Visual Inverting Prisms
Corsi‐Cabrera, M., Becker, J., García, L., Ibarra, R., Morales, M., & Souza, M. (1986) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.1986.63.2.415 · Cited by 17
Effects of Goggle-Altered Color Perception on Sleep
Bowe-Anders, C., Herman, J. H., & Roffwarg, H. P. (1974) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.1974.38.1.191 · Cited by 9
Incorporation of Waking Events into Dreams
Wamsley, E. J., & Stickgold, R. (2009) · The Neuroscience of Sleep · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-375073-0.50050-6 · Cited by 9
Self-citationSolomonova, E., Paquette, T., Stenstrom, P., & Nielsen, T. (2011) · Sleep Medicine · doi:10.1016/s1389-9457(11)70463-4 · Cited by 1
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Witkin HA, Lewis HB. Presleep experiences and dreams. New York: Random House; 1967.
- Tauber ES, Roffwarg HP, Herman J. The effects of longstanding perceptual alterations on the hallucinatory content of dreams. Psychophysiology. 1968;5:219.
- Fiss H, Kremer E, Litchman J. The mnemonic function of dreaming. Sleep Res. 1977;6:122.
- Nielsen TA, Powell RA. Longitudinal dream incorporation: preliminary evidence of cognitive processing with an infradian period. Sleep Res. 1988;17:112.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The role of sleep dysfunction in the occurrence of delusions and hallucinations: A systematic review
Reeve, S., Sheaves, B., & Freeman, D. (2015) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2015.09.001 · Cited by 273
“The interpretation of these REM sleep abnormalities is opaque, as the function of REM sleep and the impacts of alterations to it are still the subject of debate (e.g. Wamsley, 2014).”
BackgroundThe role of rapid eye movement sleep for amygdala-related memory processing
Genzel, L., Spoormaker, V. I., Konrad, B. N., & Dresler, M. (2015) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2015.01.008 · Cited by 161
Does Consciousness Disappear in Dreamless Sleep?
Windt, J., Nielsen, T., & Thompson, E. T. (2016) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2016.09.006 · Cited by 160
Malinowski, J., & Horton, C. L. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01132 · Cited by 104
The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization
Hoel, E. (2021) · Patterns · doi:10.1016/j.patter.2021.100244 · Cited by 70
“There are a number of significant issues with the specific hypotheses that dreams are replaying memories (Wamsley, 2014).”
BackgroundInfluential
Metadata
- Authors
- Wamsley, E. J.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wamsley, Erin J.
- ORCID
- Wamsley, Erin J.
- Venue
- Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports
- Published
- 2014-01-30
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 433-433
- ISSN
- 1528-4042 (ISSN-L)
- 1534-6293
- PMC
- PMC4704085
- OpenAlex
- W2088544817
- Cited by
- 111
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 7
- FWCI
- 0.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (KL2TR000168)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (T32HL07901-10, T32HL007901)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH048832, R21MH098171)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- dreams, memory consolidation, sleep, memory reactivation, long-term memory storage, dream recall, memory stabilization
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Consciousness, Dreams, Eye Movements, Humans, Memory, Sleep
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
