The DOI matches its Crossref record; 178 of the 178 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Overnight therapy? The role of sleep in emotional brain processing
Open accessAbstract
Cognitive neuroscience continues to build meaningful connections between affective behavior and human brain function. Within the biological sciences, a similar renaissance has taken place, focusing on the role of sleep in various neurocognitive processes and, most recently, on the interaction between sleep and emotional regulation. This review surveys an array of diverse findings across basic and clinical research domains, resulting in a convergent view of sleep-dependent emotional brain processing. On the basis of the unique neurobiology of sleep, the authors outline a model describing the overnight modulation of affective neural systems and the (re)processing of recent emotional experiences, both of which appear to redress the appropriate next-day reactivity of limbic and associated autonomic networks. Furthermore, a rapid eye movement (REM) sleep hypothesis of emotional-memory processing is proposed, the implications of which may provide brain-based insights into the association between sleep abnormalities and the initiation and maintenance of mood disturbances.
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“Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and its main oscillatory feature, frontal theta, play a critical role in the processing of recent and emotional memories (for reviews, see Walker, 2009; Walker and van der Helm, 2009; Genzel et al., 2015; Hutchison and Rathore, 2015).”
From Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep (2018) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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.
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“the failure of this reduction during REM sleep has been found in anxiety disturbances associated to the presence of higher gamma activity, contributing to hyperarousal and amygdala reactivity”
From The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes (2019) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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
“the adrenergic reduction during REM sleep is essential to emotional regulation because of its role in defusing affective experiences and decreasing emotional intensity”
From The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes (2019) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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.
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“the gamma activity could represent a marker of the suppression of central adrenergic neurotransmitters in REM sleep (also implicated in arousal and stress) involved in the encoding of emotional salient events along with activation in amygdala-hippocampal system”
From The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes (2019) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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.
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“It should be emphasized that this evidence may afford insights for the translational research since that some dream and/or REM abnormalities represent the core symptoms of psychiatric and sleep disorders (Benca et al., 1992, 1997; Harvey, 2008; Walker and van der Helm, 2009).”
From The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes (2019) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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“Although disentangling the issue is out of our purpose, undoubtedly, REM sleep alterations are responsible of emotional imbalance and the maintenance of REM sleep promotes adaptive emotional responses during waking life (Walker and van der Helm, 2009).”
From The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes (2019) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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.
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“Our results bolster this model by suggesting a transformation across nights of the memory traces processed in REM sleep, that is, while older memories are still present in dreams, these memory traces are no longer related to REM theta activity.”
From Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep (2018) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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.
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“Daily emotional distress is regulated during REM sleep as limbic activation during REM sleep reactivates emotionally distressing events, associates them with previous occurrences, and then processes them [113].”
From The Cyclical Battle of Insomnia and Mental Health Impairment in Firefighters: A Narrative Review (2024) · cites this paper as [113]
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“This selective activation might regulate emotion via memory consolidation (Pace-Schott et al., 2015a), active processes taking place during dreaming (Nielsen and Levin, 2007), depotentiation of emotional components of memory (Walker and van der Helm, 2009) as well as yet to be discovered mechanisms.”
From Physiological feelings (2019) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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“mood disturbances frequently appear along with sleep modifications involving REM sleep”
From The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes (2019) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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“Hence, dreams can represent a reactivation of waking-life experiences with the function of re-processed the conflictual events and their negative emotional tone (Walker and van der Helm, 2009).”
From The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes (2019) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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“Importantly, this link between frontal theta activity and waking-life experiences in REM dreams was not observed with older memories. This result suggests a transformation across nights of the memories, as proposed by the Sleep to Remember and Sleep to Forget model (Walker, 2009; Walker and van der Helm, 2009).”
From Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep (2018) · cites this paper as Walker and van der Helm, 2009
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Citations
Cites
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THE AMYGDALA MODULATES THE CONSOLIDATION OF MEMORIES OF EMOTIONALLY AROUSING EXPERIENCES
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Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2013) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00032.2012 · Cited by 2,783
The brain basis of emotion: a meta-analytic review
Lindquist, K. A., Wager, T. D., Kober, H., Bliss-Moreau, E., & Barrett, L. F. (2012) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x11000446 · Cited by 2,320
“…et al. 1992) or sleep deprivation (Van der Helm et al. 2010; Yoo et al. 2007), in which critical brain regions and/or their connections are functionally altered (over-activated or deactivated), emotion generation is preserved, although subjective emotional experience can be modulated (Walker 2009).”
BackgroundResultEffects of sleep deprivation on cognition
Killgore, W. D. S. (2010) · Progress in Brain Research · doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-53702-7.00007-5 · Cited by 1,421
The effects of physical activity on sleep: A meta-analytic review
Kredlow, M. A., Capozzoli, M. C., Hearon, B. A., Calkins, A. W., & Otto, M. W. (2015) · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s10865-015-9617-6 · Cited by 1,333
The role of sleep in emotional brain function
Goldstein, A. N., & Walker, M. P. (2014) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032813-153716 · Cited by 1,052
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Walker, M. P., & van der Helm, E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- ORCID
- Walker, Matthew P.
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2009
- Volume
- 135
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 731-748
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- PMC
- PMC2890316
- OpenAlex
- W2147396017
- Cited by
- 1,087
- References
- 178
- Citations by year
- 2026: 109 · 2025: 85 · 2024: 66 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 79 · 2021: 75 · 2020: 77 · 2019: 67 · 2018: 53 · 2017: 60 · 2016: 60 · 2015: 72 · 2014: 57 · 2013: 66 · 2012: 50
- FWCI
- 17.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (MH069935)
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroscience of respiration and sleep
- Keywords
- sleep, emotional processing, emotion regulation, sleep-dependent memory consolidation, emotional memory, REM sleep, limbic system, autonomic nervous system, mood disturbance, sleep abnormalities, emotional behavior
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Brain, Cognition, Emotions, Humans, Memory, Sleep, Sleep, REM
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