title: Minimizing interference with early consolidation boosts 7-day retention in amnesic patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A short wakeful rest immediately after learning boosts memory retention in amnesic patients over several minutes. Here we investigated whether a short wakeful rest could boost memory retention in amnesic patients over a much longer period.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors tested 15 patients with amnesia associated with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI)/mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 15 age- and-education-matched controls. All participants learned 2 prose passages, 1 followed by a 10-min wakeful rest (minimal sensory stimulation), and the other by a 10-min visual spot the difference game. Participants were given a surprise delayed recall test for both prose passages after 15-30 min and after 7 days.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Wakeful resting boosted memory substantially in the patients over 15-30 min and 7 days: After 7 days all 15 patients retained >30% of the prose that had been learned prior to wakeful resting. In contrast, after 7 days, only 4 patients retained >30% of the prose that had been learned prior to playing the spot the difference game.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This striking 7-day memory boost via wakeful resting is remarkable, given that amnesic patients often struggle to remember new information over just a few minutes. Our novel findings indicate that there is substantial capacity for longer-term retention in patients with amnestic MCI/mild AD, and bolster the hypothesis that wakeful resting boosts memory by protecting the compromised memory consolidation system from interfering incoming information.
authors.affiliation: Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alber
authors.affiliation: Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Della Sala
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, School of Life Sciences, Heriot-Watt University.
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dewar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D000647:Amnesia / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012146:Rest / Q000523:psychology*; D012153:Retention, Psychology