Nature Neuroscience
3, 831 - 836 (2000)
doi:10.1038/77744
Experience-dependent changes in cerebral activation during human REM
sleepPierre Maquet1, 2, 6, Steven Laureys1, 2, Philippe Peigneux1, 2, 3, Sonia Fuchs1, Christophe Petiau1, Christophe Phillips1, 6, Joel Aerts1, Guy Del Fiore1, Christian Degueldre1, Thierry Meulemans3, André Luxen1, Georges Franck1, 2, Martial Van Der Linden3, Carlyle Smith4
& Axel Cleeremans51
Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, Belgium
2
Department of Neurology, CHU Sart Tilman,
Belgium
3
Department of Neuropsychology, University of Liège, Belgium
4
Department of Psychology, Trent University,
Peterborough, Canada
5
Cognitive Science Research Unit, Université
Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
6
Present address: Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology,
Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen
Square, London WC1N3BG, UK
Correspondence should be addressed to Pierre Maquet maquet@pet.crc.ulg.ac.beThe 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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