Owl or lark? Stroop-related cerebral activity is modulated by time of day and chronotype

in Journal of Sleep Research (2008), 17(Suppl. 1),

Both the hippocampus and striatum are involved in consolidation of motor sequence memory.

in Neuron (2008), 58(2), 261-72

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the cerebral correlates of motor sequence memory consolidation. Participants were scanned while training on an implicit oculomotor ... [more ▼]

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the cerebral correlates of motor sequence memory consolidation. Participants were scanned while training on an implicit oculomotor sequence learning task and during a single testing session taking place 30 min, 5 hr, or 24 hr later. During training, responses observed in hippocampus and striatum were linearly related to the gain in performance observed overnight, but not over the day. Responses in both structures were significantly larger at 24 hr than at 30 min or 5 hr. Additionally, the competitive interaction observed between these structures during training became cooperative overnight. These results stress the importance of both hippocampus and striatum in procedural memory consolidation. Responses in these areas during training seem to condition the overnight memory processing that is associated with a change in their functional interactions. These results show that both structures interact during motor sequence consolidation to optimize subsequent behavior. [less ▲]

A Time to Think: Circadian Rhythms in Human Cognition

in Cognitive Neuropsychology (2007), 24(7), 755-89

Although peaks and troughs in cognitive performance characterize our daily functioning, time-of-day fluctuations remain marginally considered in the domain of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology ... [more ▼]

Although peaks and troughs in cognitive performance characterize our daily functioning, time-of-day fluctuations remain marginally considered in the domain of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology. Here, we attempt to summarize studies looking at the effects of sleep pressure, circadian variations, and chronotype on cognitive functioning in healthy subjects. The picture that emerges from this assessment is that beyond physiological variables, time-of-day modulations affect performance on a wide range of cognitive tasks measuring attentional capacities, executive functioning, and memory. These performance fluctuations are also contingent upon the chronotype, which reflects interindividual differences in circadian preference, and particularly upon the synchronicity between the individuals' peak periods of circadian arousal and the time of the day at which testing occurs. In themselves, these conclusions should direct both the clinician's and the researcher's attention towards the utmost importance to account for time-of-day parameters when assessing cognitive performance in patients and healthy volunteers. [less ▲]

Cerebral asymmetries in sleep-dependent processes of memory consolidation

in Learning & Memory (2007), 14(6), 400-406

Preference for previously seen, unfamiliar objects reflects a memory bias on affective judgment, known as the "mere exposure effect" (MEE). Here, we investigated the effect of time, post-exposure sleep ... [more ▼]

Preference for previously seen, unfamiliar objects reflects a memory bias on affective judgment, known as the "mere exposure effect" (MEE). Here, we investigated the effect of time, post-exposure sleep, and the brain hemisphere solicited on preference generalization toward objects viewed in different perspectives. When presented in the right visual field (RVF), which promotes preferential processing in the left hemisphere, same and mirrored exemplars were preferred immediately after exposure. MEE generalized to much dissimilar views after three nights of sleep. Conversely, object presentation in the left visual field (LVF), promoting right hemisphere processing, elicited a MEE for same views immediately after exposure, then for mirror views after sleep. Most importantly, sleep deprivation during the first post-exposure night, although followed by two recovery nights, extinguished MEE for all views in the LVF but not in the RVF. Besides demonstrating that post-exposure time and sleep facilitate the generalization process by which we integrate various representations of an object, our results suggest that mostly in the right hemisphere, sleep may be mandatory to consolidate the memory bias underlying affective preference. These interhemispheric differences tentatively call for a reappraisal of the role of cerebral asymmetries in wake- and sleep-dependent processes of memory consolidation. [less ▲]

The Role of Sleep in Motor Memory Consolidation assessed by fMRI and MEG

in Journal of Neuroscience (2007), 27(Suppl. 1),

Sleep transforms the cerebral trace of declarative memories

in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2007), 104(47), 18778-18783

After encoding, memory traces are initially fragile and have to be reinforced to become permanent. The initial steps of this process occur at a cellular level within minutes or hours. Besides this rapid ... [more ▼]

After encoding, memory traces are initially fragile and have to be reinforced to become permanent. The initial steps of this process occur at a cellular level within minutes or hours. Besides this rapid synaptic consolidation, systems consolidation occurs within a time frame of days to years. For declarative memory, the latter is presumed to rely on an interaction between different brain regions, in particular the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Specifically, sleep has been proposed to provide a setting that supports such systems consolidation processes, leading to a transfer and perhaps transformation of memories. Using functional MRI, we show that postlearning sleep enhances hippocampal responses during recall of word pairs 48 h after learning, indicating intrahippocampal memory processing during sleep. At the same time, sleep induces a memory-related functional connectivity between the hippocampus and the mPFC. Six months after learning, memories activated the mPFC more strongly when they were encoded before sleep, showing that sleep leads to long-lasting changes in the representation of memories on a systems level. [less ▲]

The role of sleep in motor memory consolidation assessed by fMRI

in Journal of Sleep Research (2006, September), 15(Suppl. 1), 189

Encoding Difficulty Promotes Postlearning Changes in Sleep

in Journal of Neuroscience (2006), 26(35), 8976-8982

Learning-dependent increases in sleep spindle density have been reported during nocturnal sleep immediately after the learning session. Here, we investigated experience-dependent changes in daytime sleep ... [more ▼]

Learning-dependent increases in sleep spindle density have been reported during nocturnal sleep immediately after the learning session. Here, we investigated experience-dependent changes in daytime sleep EEG activity after declarative learning of unrelated word pairs. At weekly intervals, 13 young male volunteers spent three 24 h sessions in the laboratory under carefully controlled homeostatic and circadian conditions. At approximately midday, subjects performed either one of two word-pair learning tasks or a matched nonlearning control task, in a counterbalanced order. The two learning lists differed in the level of concreteness of the words used, resulting in an easier and a more difficult associative encoding condition, as confirmed by performance at immediate cued recall. Subjects were then allowed to sleep for 4 h; afterward, delayed cued recall was tested. Compared with the control condition, sleep EEG spectral activity in the low spindle frequency range and the density of low-frequency sleep spindles (11.25–13.75 Hz) were both significantly increased in the left frontal cortex after the difficult but not after the easy encoding condition. Furthermore, we found positive correlations between theseEEG changes during sleep and changes in memory performance between pre nap and post-nap recall sessions. These results indicate that, like during nocturnal sleep, daytime sleep EEG oscillations including spindle activity are modified after declarative learning of word pairs. Furthermore, we demonstrate here that the nature of the learning material is a determinant factor for sleep-related alterations after declarative learning. [less ▲]

Sleep after spatial learning promotes covert reorganization of brain activity

in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2006), 103(18), 7124-7129

Sleep promotes the integration of recently acquired spatial memories into cerebral networks for the long term. In this study, we examined how sleep deprivation hinders this consolidation process. Using ... [more ▼]

Sleep promotes the integration of recently acquired spatial memories into cerebral networks for the long term. In this study, we examined how sleep deprivation hinders this consolidation process. Using functional MRI, we mapped regional cerebral activity during place-finding navigation in a virtual town, immediately after learning and 3 days later, in subjects either allowed regular sleep (RS) or totally sleep-deprived (TSD) on the first posttraining night. At immediate and delayed retrieval, place-finding navigation elicited increased brain activity in an extended hippocamponeocortical network in both RS and TSD subjects. Behavioral performance was equivalent between groups. However, striatal navigation-related activity increased more at delayed retrieval in RS than in TSD subjects. Furthermore, correlations between striatal response and behavioral performance, as well as functional connectivity between the striatum and the hippocampus, were modulated by posttraining sleep. These data suggest that brain activity is restructured during sleep in such a way that navigation in the virtual environment, initially related to a hippocampus-dependent spatial strategy, becomes progressively contingent in part on a response-based strategy mediated by the striatum. Both neural strategies eventually relate to equivalent performance levels, indicating that covert reorganization of brain patterns underlying navigation after sleep is not necessarily accompanied by overt changes in behavior. [less ▲]

Hippocampal response at training promotes insight after sleep

in NeuroImage (2006), 31(Suppl. 1),