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The benefit of offline sleep and wake for novel object recognition

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Abstract

How do we segment and recognize novel objects? When explicit cues from motion and color are available, object boundary detection is relatively easy. However, under conditions of deep camouflage, in which objects share the same image cues as their background, the visual system must reassign new functional roles to existing image statistics in order to group continuities for detection and segmentation of object boundaries. This bootstrapped learning process is stimulus dependent and requires extensive task-specific training. Using a between-subject design, we tested participants on their ability to segment and recognize novel objects after a consolidation period of sleep or wake. We found a specific role for rapid eye movement (REM, n = 43) sleep in context-invariant novel object learning, and that REM sleep as well as a period of active wake (AW, n = 35) increased segmentation of context-specific object learning compared to a period of quiet wake (QW, n = 38; p = .007 and p = .017, respectively). Performance in the non-REM nap group (n = 32) was not different from the other groups. The REM sleep enhancement effect was especially robust for the top performing quartile of subjects, or “super learners” (p = .037). Together, these results suggest that the construction and generalization of novel representations through bootstrapped learning may benefit from REM sleep, and more specific object learning may also benefit from AW. We discuss these results in the context of shared electrophysiological and neurochemical features of AW and REM sleep, which are distinct from QW and non-REM sleep.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ryan Wong, Jason Parnass, and Eunice Oh for their help in collecting and scoring the data. Research was supported by the following National Institutes of Health award: K01 MH080992 (S.M.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA

    Elizabeth A. McDevitt & Sara C. Mednick

  2. Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Elizabeth A. McDevitt, Kelly M. Rowe, Katherine A. Duggan & Sara C. Mednick

  3. Providence, RI, USA

    Mark Brady

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  1. Elizabeth A. McDevitt
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  2. Kelly M. Rowe
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Correspondence to Sara C. Mednick.

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McDevitt, E.A., Rowe, K.M., Brady, M. et al. The benefit of offline sleep and wake for novel object recognition. Exp Brain Res 232, 1487–1496 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3830-3

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