title: Sleep Supports the Slow Abstraction of Gist from Visual Perceptual Memories.
abstract: Sleep benefits the consolidation of individual episodic memories. In the long run, however, it may be more efficient to retain the abstract gist of single, related memories, which can be generalized to similar instances in the future. While episodic memory is enhanced after one night of sleep, effective gist abstraction is thought to require multiple nights. We tested this hypothesis using a visual Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm, examining gist abstraction and episodic-like memory consolidation after 20 min, after 10 hours, as well as after one year of retention. While after 10 hours, sleep enhanced episodic-like memory for single items, it did not affect gist abstraction. One year later, however, we found significant gist knowledge only if subjects had slept immediately after encoding, while there was no residual memory for individual items. These findings indicate that sleep after learning strengthens episodic-like memories in the short term and facilitates long-term gist abstraction.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Straße 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.|Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience/IMPRS for Cognitive &Systems Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Österbergstraße 3, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicolas D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Straße 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diekelmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Straße 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hinse-Stern
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Straße 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.|Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Straße 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Born
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Straße 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rauss
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception