Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Studies of Learning during Sleep: Problems, Progress, and Perspectives

  • Published:
Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Sleep has been shown to play an important role in memory consolidation. The direction of studies of learning during sleep is based on the hypothesis that assimilation of new information can occur during the state of sleep. We present here a review of articles addressing the question of the formation of new memory traces during sleep with retention to waking, as well as reports of work seeking to identify the mechanisms of this learning. Associative conditioned reflex, perceptual, and other forms of learning are demonstrated, the main type being implicit learning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. J. Born, B. Rasch, and S. Gais, “Sleep to remember,” Neuroscientist, 12, No. 5, 410–424 (2006), https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858406292647.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. M. Inostroza, S. Binder, and J. Born, “Sleep-dependency of episodic- like memory consolidation in rats,” Behav. Brain Res., 237, 15–22 (2013), https://doi.org/10.1016/J.BBR.2012.09.011.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. G. R. Sutherland, and B. McNaughton, “Memory trace reactivation in hippocampal and neocortical neuronal ensembles,” Curr. Opin. Neurobiol., 10, No. 2, 180–186 (2000), https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-4388(00)00079-9.

  4. G. Tononi and C. Cirelli, “Sleep and the price of plasticity: from synaptic and cellular homeostasis to memory consolidation and integration,” Neuron, 81, No. 1, 12–34 (2014), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.12.025.

  5. G. Tononi and C. Cirelli, “Sleep function and synaptic homeostasis,” Sleep Med. Rev., 10, No. 1, 49–62 (2006), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2005.05.002.

  6. D. I. Schouten, S. I. R. Pereira, M. Tops, and F. M. Louzada, “State of the art on targeted memory reactivation: Sleep your way to enhanced cognition,” Sleep Med. Rev., 32, 123–131 (2017), doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2016.04.002.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. W. P. Fifer, D. L. Byrd, M. Kaku, et al., “Newborn infants learn during sleep,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 107, No. 22, 10320– 10323 (2010), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1005061107.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. A. Sambeth, K. Ruohio, P. Alku, et al., “Sleeping newborns extract prosody from continuous speech,” Clin. Neurophysiol., 119, No. 2, 332–341 (2008), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2007.09.144.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. M. Cheour, O. Martynova, R. Naatanen, et al., “Speech sounds learned by sleeping newborns,” Nature, 415, No. 6872, 599–600 (2002), https://doi.org/10.1038/415599b.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. M. S. Scher, “Ontogeny of EEG-sleep from neonatal through infancy periods,” Sleep Med., 9, No. 6, 615–636 (2008), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2007.08.014.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. C. W. Simon and W. H. Emmons, “Learning during sleep?” Psychol. Bull., 52, No. 4, 328–342 (1955), https://doi.org/10.1037/h0043733.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. W. H. Emmons and C. W. Simon, “The non-recall of material presented during sleep,” Am. J. Psychol., 69, No. 1, 76 (1956), https://doi.org/10.2307/1418117.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. K. Tani and N. Yoshii, “Effi ciency of verbal learning during sleep as related to the EEG pattern,” Brain Res., 17, No. 2, 277–285 (1970), https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-8993(70)90082-X.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. J. M. Wood, R. R. Bootzin, J. F. Kihlstrom, and D. L. Schacter, “Implicit and explicit memory for verbal information presented during sleep,” Psychol. Sci., 3, No. 4, 236–239 (1992), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1992.tb00035.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. K. Ikeda and T. Morotomi, “Classical conditioning during human NREM sleep and response transfer to wakefulness,” Sleep, 19, No. 1, 72–74 (1996), https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/19.1.72.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. A. Arzi, L. Sela, A. Green, et al., “The infl uence of odorants on respiratory patterns in sleep,” Chem. Senses, 35, No. 1, 31–40 (2010), https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjp079.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. A. Arzi, L. Shedlesky, M. Ben-Shaul, et al., “Humans can learn new information during sleep,” Nat. Neurosci., 15, No. 10, 1460–1465 (2012), https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3193.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. A. Arzi, Y. Holtzman, P. Samnon, et al., “Olfactory aversive conditioning during sleep reduces cigarette-smoking behavior,” J. Neurosci., 34, No. 46, 15382–15393 (2014), https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2291-14.2014.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. A. F. Canales-Johnson, T. A. Bekinschtein, and A. Arzi, “Neural signatures of classical conditioning during human sleep,” BioRxiv, (2018), https://doi.org/10.1101/372037v1.

  20. T. Andrillon, S. Kouider, T. Agus, and D. Pressnitzer, “Perceptual learning of acoustic noise generates memory-evoked potentials,” Curr. Biol., 25, No. 21, 2823–2829 (2015), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.09.027.

  21. T. Andrillon, D. Pressnitzer, D. Leger, and S. Kouider, “Formation and suppression of acoustic memories during human sleep,” Nat. Commun., 8, No. 1, 179 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00071-z.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. T. Andrillon and S. Kouider, “Implicit memory for words heard during sleep,” Neurosci. Consc., 1, 14 (2016), https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niw014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. E. Hennevin and B. Hars, “Second-order conditioning during sleep,” Psychobiology, 20, No. 2, 166–176 (1992).

    Google Scholar 

  24. G. de Lavilleon, M. M. Lacroix, L. Rondi-Reig, and K. Benchenane, “Explicit memory creation during sleep demonstrates a causal role of place cells in navigation,” Nat. Neurosci., 18, No. 4, 493 (2015), https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3970.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. E. Hennevin, C. Huetz, and J.-M. Edeline, “Neural representations during sleep: From sensory processing to memory traces,” Neurobiol. Learn. Mem., 87, No. 3, 416–440 (2007), https://doi.org/10.1016/J.NLM.2006.10.006.

  26. J. Plailly, J. D. Howard, D. R. Gitelman, and J. A. Gottfried, “Attention to odor modulates thalamocortical connectivity in the hu man brain,” J. Neurosci., 28, No. 20, 5257–5267 (2008), https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5607-07.2008.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. V. M. Koval’zon, Basic Somnology: Physiology and the Neurochemical Sleep–Waking Cycle, Binom, Moscow (2011).

    Google Scholar 

  28. U. Ermis, K. Krakow, and U. Voss, “Arousal thresholds during human tonic and phasic REM sleep: Phasic and tonic REM sleep,” J. Sleep Res., 19, No. 3, 400–406 (2010), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2010.00831.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. M. Sallinen, J. Kaartinen, and H. Lyytinen, “Processing of auditory stimuli during tonic and phasic periods of REM sleep as revealed by event-related brain potentials,” J. Sleep Res., 5, No. 4, 220–228 (1996), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365 2869.1996.00220.x.

  30. Y. Nir and G. Tononi, “Dreaming and the brain: from phenomenology to neurophysiology,” Trends Cogn. Sci., 14, No. 2, 88–100 (2010), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.12.001.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. S. Diekelmann, “Sleep for cognitive enhancement,” Front. Syst. Neurosci., 8, 46 (2014), https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2014.00046.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    A. N. Puchkova

Authors
  1. A. N. Puchkova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. N. Puchkova.

Additional information

Translated from Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii imeni S. S. Korsakova, Vol. 119, No. 4, Iss. 2, Insomnia, pp. 8–14, April, 2019.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Puchkova, A.N. Studies of Learning during Sleep: Problems, Progress, and Perspectives. Neurosci Behav Physi 50, 257–263 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-020-00895-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-020-00895-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation