We know that humans are capable of learning during sleep. Research now shows that they are also capable of unlearning during sleep, and in a way that alters the neural representation of a feared stimulus: re-exposure to an odor during slow-wave sleep promotes extinction of an aversive visual association learned in that odor context.
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Wixted, J. Sleep aromatherapy curbs conditioned fear. Nat Neurosci 16, 1510–1512 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3556
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3556