Brief Communication abstract
Nature Neuroscience 12, 396 - 397 (2008)
Published online: 5 October 2008 | doi:10.1038/nn.2206
Pharmacological REM sleep suppression paradoxically improves rather than impairs skill memory
Björn Rasch1,2, Julian Pommer1, Susanne Diekelmann1 & Jan Born1
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has been considered important for consolidation of memories, particularly of skills. Contrary to expectations, we found that REM sleep suppression by administration of selective serotonin or norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitors after training did not impair consolidation of skills or word-pairs in healthy men but rather enhanced gains in finger tapping accuracy together with sleep spindles. Our results indicate that REM sleep as a unitary phenomenon is not required for skill-memory consolidation.
- University of Lübeck, Department of Neuroendocrinology, Haus 23a, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.
- University of Basel, Department of Molecular Psychology, Missionsstrasse 60/62, 4055 Basel, Switzerland.
Correspondence to: Björn Rasch1,2 e-mail: rasch@kfg.uni-luebeck.de
Correspondence to: Jan Born1 e-mail: born@kfg.uni-luebeck.de
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