Abstract
The function of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep is still unknown. One prevailing hypothesis suggests that REM sleep is important in processing memory traces. Here, using positron emission tomography (PET) and regional cerebral blood flow measurements, we show that waking experience influences regional brain activity during subsequent sleep. Several brain areas activated during the execution of a serial reaction time task during wakefulness were significantly more active during REM sleep in subjects previously trained on the task than in non-trained subjects. These results support the hypothesis that memory traces are processed during REM sleep in humans.
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Acknowledgements
We thank R.S.J. Frackowiak, K.J. Friston and their colleagues for providing the SPM and C. Mesters, G. and J. Hodiaumont, P. Hawotte and J.L. Genon for technical assistance. We are also grateful to C. Frith for comments on a previous version of this manuscript. P.M. and A.C. are Senior Research Associate and Research Associate at the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique de Belgique (FNRS), respectively. P.P. is supported by the Interuniversitary Poles of Attraction, program P4/22. This research was supported by FNRS grants, by Special Funds for Scientific Research of the University of Liège and by the Queen Elisabeth Medical Foundation.
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Maquet, P., Laureys, S., Peigneux, P. et al. Experience-dependent changes in cerebral activation during human REM sleep. Nat Neurosci 3, 831–836 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/77744
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/77744
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