RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Odor Cues During Slow-Wave Sleep Prompt Declarative Memory Consolidation
JF Science
JO Science
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP 1426
OP 1429
DO 10.1126/science.1138581
VO 315
IS 5817
A1 Rasch, Björn
A1 Büchel, Christian
A1 Gais, Steffen
A1 Born, Jan
YR 2007
UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/315/5817/1426.abstract
AB Sleep facilitates memory consolidation. A widely held model assumes that this is because newly encoded memories undergo covert reactivation during sleep. We cued new memories in humans during sleep by presenting an odor that had been presented as context during prior learning, and so showed that reactivation indeed causes memory consolidation during sleep. Re-exposure to the odor during slow-wave sleep (SWS) improved the retention of hippocampus-dependent declarative memories but not of hippocampus-independent procedural memories. Odor re-exposure was ineffective during rapid eye movement sleep or wakefulness or when the odor had been omitted during prior learning. Concurring with these findings, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed significant hippocampal activation in response to odor re-exposure during SWS.