Sleep-dependent memory processing
Abstract
While the functions of sleep remain largely unknown, one exciting hypothesis is that sleep contributes importantly to processes of memory and brain plasticity. Over the last decade, a large body of work has provided substantive evidence supporting this role of sleep in what is becoming known as sleep-dependent memory processing. This review offers a summary of these data, focusing specifically on the role of sleep in (1) memory encoding, (2) memory consolidation (along with the brain basis of this process), and (3) neural plasticity. The clinical ramifications of such findings are also explored.
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Sleep disruption results in specific cognitive impairments including deficits in attention, executive function, non-declarative and declarative memory, emotional reactivity, and sensory perception.
“Indeed, sleep disruption results in specific cognitive impairments including deficits in attention, executive function, non-declarative and declarative memory, as well as emotional reactivity and sensory perception [6-8].”
From Dawn simulation light impacts on different cognitive domains under sleep restriction (2015) · cites this paper as [8]
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- Authors
- Walker, M. P.
- Affiliations
- CArcinose Péritoine Paris-Technologies (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Walker, Matthew P.
- ORCID
- Walker, Matthew P.
- Venue
- Harvard Review of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2008-09
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 287-298
- ISSN
- 1067-3229 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1985462913
- Cited by
- 72
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Harvard Review of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R21MH067754, R01MH065292, MH-48832, R03MH069935, MH069935, R01MH048832, MH 65292, MH67754)
- 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
- sleep-dependent memory processing, sleep, memory consolidation, memory encoding, neuroplasticity
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Brain Mapping, Circadian Rhythm, Dominance, Cerebral, Hippocampus, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Memory, Neuronal Plasticity, Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Stages
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