Sleep and Memory

Abstract

Abstract Sleep plays a crucial role in memory consolidation. Benefits for various types of memory stem from the sleep-based reactivation of previously acquired memories. These alterations in memory storage involve temporally synchronized brain waves: hippocampal sharp-wave ripple complexes, thalamocortical sleep spindles, and cortical slow waves. The unique contributions made during different sleep stages are not fully understood, although slow-wave sleep is particularly critical for declarative memories, facilitating the recall and recognition of facts and events. During sleep, a dynamic interaction between hippocampus and neocortex serves to gradually reinforce and transform cortical memory traces. Sleep thus contributes to memory stabilization, integration of new knowledge with existing knowledge, selective strengthening of some memory components, and extraction of gist or discovery of rules within collections of memories. This chapter surveys sleep’s role in memory and considers sleep-based approaches to treating neurological and psychiatric disorders and to enhancing memory generally.