Autonomic activity during sleep predicts memory consolidation in humans
Abstract
We present the first evidence, to our knowledge, that the autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a role in associative memory consolidation during sleep. Compared with a Quiet Wake control condition, performance improvement was associated with vagally mediated ANS activity [as measured by high-frequency (HF) heart rate variability (HRV)] during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. In particular, up to 73% of the proportion of improvement in associative memory performance could be accounted for by considering both traditionally reported sleep features (i.e., minutes spent in sleep stages and sleep spindles) and HF HRV. We hypothesize that central nervous system processes that favor peripheral vagal activity during REM sleep may lead to increases in plasticity that promote associative processing.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 13, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1518202113
Entities
People
- Elizabeth A McDevitt
- Katherine A. Duggan
- Lauren N. Whitehurst
- Nicola Cellini
- Sara Mednick
Organizations
- National Institutes of Health
- Office of Naval Research
- University of California
- University of Padua