EEG sigma and slow‐wave activity during NREM sleep correlate with overnight declarative and procedural memory consolidation
Abstract
Previous studies suggest that sleep-specific brain activity patterns such as sleep spindles and electroencephalographic slow-wave activity contribute to the consolidation of novel memories. The generation of both sleep spindles and slow-wave activity relies on synchronized oscillations in a thalamo-cortical network that might be implicated in synaptic strengthening (spindles) and downscaling (slow-wave activity) during sleep. This study further examined the association between electroencephalographic power during non-rapid eye movement sleep in the spindle (sigma, 12-16 Hz) and slow-wave frequency range (0.1-3.5 Hz) and overnight memory consolidation in 20 healthy subjects (10 men, 27.1 ± 4.6 years). We found that both electroencephalographic sigma power and slow-wave activity were positively correlated with the pre-post-sleep consolidation of declarative (word list) and procedural (mirror-tracing) memories. These results, although only correlative in nature, are consistent with the view that processes of synaptic strengthening (sleep spindles) and synaptic downscaling (slow-wave activity) might act in concert to promote synaptic plasticity and the consolidation of both declarative and procedural memories during sleep.
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Indicators of sleep spindle expression consistently correlated with the amount of overnight retention of declarative memories.
“Furthermore, indicators of sleep spindle expression consistently correlated with the amount of overnight retention of declarative memories (86,213,214,235,446,562,822,1016,1024,1037,1044,1057).”
From About Sleep's Role in Memory (2013) · cites this paper as [562]
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Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2013) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00032.2012 · Cited by 2,783 · see citing works
“Also, correlations between different parameters of spindle activity or stage 2 sleep and overnight improvements in motor skills have been consistently reported (562, 862, 1216, 1286, 1287), and these correlations were revealed for fast rather than slow spindles, in the studies distinguishing these two spindle types (5…”
BackgroundSleep spindles: mechanisms and functions
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Sleep spindles track cortical learning patterns for memory consolidation
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Alpha reactivity to first names differs in subjects with high and low dream recall frequency
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Spindle-dependent memory consolidation in healthy adults: a meta-analysis
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Effects of a brief afternoon nap on declarative and procedural memory
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- Authors
- HOLZ, J., PIOSCZYK, H., FEIGE, B., SPIEGELHALDER, K., BAGLIONI, C., RIEMANN, D., & NISSEN, C.
- Affiliations
- University Medical Center Freiburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- NISSEN, CHRISTOPH
- Venue
- Journal of Sleep Research
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-05-16
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 612-619
- ISSN
- 0962-1105 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2869
- OpenAlex
- W2131973169
- Cited by
- 134
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 3.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Sleep Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- slow-wave activity, NREM sleep, memory consolidation, declarative memory, procedural memory, sleep spindles, thalamocortical oscillations, synaptic plasticity, synaptic downscaling, mirror tracing, word list recall
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain, Electroencephalography, Female, Humans, Learning, Male, Memory, Neuropsychological Tests, Sleep, Time Factors, Young Adult
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