Consolidation: Sleep, Memory and Learning

Consolidation: Sleep, Memory and Learning Reaction Paper James Andersen Salt Lake Community College

Consolidation: Sleep, Memory and Learning

We have to sleep. Because such a large portion of our day is spent in what our culture often considers to be an unproductive state, reliance on regular sleep is often considered a weakness. This perception is especially relevant in competitive job markets. However, many aspects of our health are tied to regular sleep. In order to fully understand how sleep affects us, it has a great deal of attention from the scientific world. Scientific studies indicate that regular, quality sleep is fundamental to the consolidation, extrapolation and recall of memory. Without it our ability to learn, as well as our ability to recall explicit memory, suffers greatly. As a novice, one of the problems with examining the issue is the abundance of available information. This topic has been studied intensely for multiple decades. Sorting through the myriad studies in a chronological fashion in order to understand the evolution of consensus surrounding memory and sleep would be prohibitive in the context of this report. I have elected to take a snapshot of recent studies regarding the effects that sleep have on memory and learning, in the hope that the discussion will illuminate the current thought on the topic, while posing some questions which indicate the path that future discoveries may take. Sleep on it is an old idiom which implies that the solution to a problematic situation will present itself after a good nights rest. Studies are being published which indicate that there may be some truth behind this old saying. In January, Beijamini, Pereira, Cini, & Louzada, (2014) published a study which examined the effect that sleep has on solving logical puzzles. In order to facilitate this, participants were tasked with solving a logical puzzle in a video game. The subjects were fed, then divided into control and sleep groups. For the next ninety minutes the control group reflected quietly on the task, while the sleep group took an afternoon nap. After this interval the participants were given another chance to complete the video game puzzle.

Consolidation: Sleep, Memory and Learning Results showed that the sleep group was twice as effective as the control group at resolving the complex logical task posed by the game. (Beijamini et al., 2014) This is significant because it indicates that not only do we reinforce existing knowledge during rest, we may also extrapolate contextual clues towards the real world functionality of that knowledge. It is quite a jump to move from saying that sleep reinforces existing patterns to the implication that sleep extrapolates, or organizes thought. However, there is other science pointing towards this idea. Last June, Nieuwenhuis, Folia, Forkstam, Jensen, & Petersson (2013) employed an artificial grammar learning paradigm in the hope of understanding more about how much processing our brains do during periods of sleep. The experiment uses our inherent ability to look for grammatical patterns by exposing participants to groups of consonants. Some belonged to an artificially created grammar system, others did not. Participants were tested on their ability to discern between which groupings were grammatically correct and which were not. After their first exposure to the test, participants were divided into a number of groups. Some were to stay awake, others to sleep. Afterwards the participants were tested again to see how well they could

discern the grammatically correct consonant groupings. The results showed that participants who slept between testing were more likely to accurately discern between groupings that were grammatically correct and those that were incorrect. (Niewenhuis et al., 2013) What stood out to me about this study is that it indicates that the artificial grammar paradigm is not designed for testing explicit memory. Instead, because it focuses on implicit memory, it points to data processing of a more inherent nature. Even though our consciousness is dormant in sleep, part of us is still hard at work sifting through the days catch of data, cataloguing it for future use. Given the reams of data which we receive from our senses throughout the day, what makes the cut? Our brain has to sift through the data, prioritizing the data that is most important.

Consolidation: Sleep, Memory and Learning One of the functions of sleep also seems to be the culling of information which may not be necessary. While this may initially seem counterintuitive when considering sleep as part of memory reinforcement, it makes sense from the perspective of the type of neural pathway reinforcement which happens through repeated use. There are indications that the pathways we

use in our waking hours are reinforced while we sleep. Wilson & McNaughton (1994) conducted a study where they recorded the brain activity of rats as they completed a task. They mapped the pathways which were used when the rat successfully completed the task. When the rat was sleeping these same pathways became active (Wilson & McNaughton, 1994). This indicates that part of the function of sleep is to reinforce pathways which resulted in positive stimulus. This brings into focus the question of what cues the brain might use to reinforce important information, like where the cheese at the end of the maze is, versus the mundane things that can easily be forgotten without immediate repercussion, such as the location of car keys. A study by van Dongen and colleagues examined this relationship by conducting an en experiment with four groups. All the groups were given a battery of location arrays, which are visual aids used to test memory. Afterwards the subjects were divided into groups that slept or did not sleep. Within these groups there was another division where one of the groups was told that a monetary bonus would be attached to their ability to recall the data. All the groups were then tested to see how well they recalled the memory arrays. The group that slept, and was given the monetary stimulus, experienced the least memory loss of the four groups (van Dongen et al., 2012). This indicates that what we review in our hours of unconsciousness is prioritized based on how important we think the information is to our future success. A study conducted by Baran, Daniels, & Spencer, (2013) reinforced these findings. Participants were presented a vocabulary list which attached a point value to different words, ranging from 1-20. In order to impress the importance of

Consolidation: Sleep, Memory and Learning remembering certain vocabulary words, participants were scored based on which words they could recall. A subsequent activity scored their recall performance based on the point values assigned to the words. As with the previous study, the group that was able to sleep on the

information remembered more high value vocabulary words than the ones that did not. (Baran et all, 2013). These studies point to the mechanism which could lead to discerning which memories we rehearse at night. We may be, at least partially, responsible for the cues our brain uses to decipher between what pathways are reinforced during sleep and those that will fade away because they are used less. So far we have been looking at how sleep effects memory and learning. But is there a relationship between what we learn and how well we sleep? There is evidence that the relationship may be a two way street. Haimov and Shatil (2013) published a study on older adults with insomnia. They divided the two groups into the control group, which was given a generic word and paint program to use, versus a cognitive training group, which was given a cognitive training program. They program was completed over the course of eight weeks, after which the participants were tested to see how much cognitive function improved due to the activity. The sleep quality of the participants was also measured before and after the eight week course using actigraphy, a less invasive wrist worn device which registers movement and vitals during sleep. The results of the study indicated that sleep improved in the group with cognitive training. Since the amount of cognitive improvement was also measured, the researchers were able to conclude that improvement in cognitive function predicted the improvements in sleep quality. (Haimov & Shatil, 2013) Anecdotally, Insomnia is not often connected to a lack of cognitive activity, in fact quite the opposite. However, considering the implications of this study, a healthy amount of information for the brain to consolidate could be a significant portion of the

Consolidation: Sleep, Memory and Learning ensemble of factors needed to produce quality sleep. There are drawback to interpreting this

information for general use because this study was directed towards older adults with preexisting insomnia. However, it poses some interesting questions about what contributes to the quality of our sleep at all ages. Because we know that the brain uses sleep to actively interpret the input from the waking day, it may be that sleep quality is, in part, dependent on a steady stream of new items to catalogue. It would be interesting to see the results of additional studies on the effects of cognitive training and insomnia in other age groups. These studies indicate that there is much more going on beneath the surface of a resting organisms brain. The mind uses the period of physical inactivity to continue the work of interpreting and reinforcing the lessons of the day, consolidating the data for potential future use. The evidence suggests that consolidation is more than just the rehearsal of pathways trod by waking synapse pulses. Brains have the capacity to extract, or to create, solutions which were not evident before sleep. Perhaps this is related to the process of discarding the clutter of useless information which could cloud the solution. This is certainly an area to pursue when looking for additional studies about consolidation. Finally, cognitive capacity, and the resultant plasticity may be a significant factor in being able to get quality sleep. Sleep is so much more than just a period of rest and recharge. While these things occur in other parts of the body, the central nervous system is hard at work digesting the intellectual comestibles of the day. This emphasizes the importance of the daily diet of information a brain receives; it will rehearse and reinforce what you have indicated is most important through the cues of focus and attention. But it cannot accomplish this task without the time it needs to do the work. Regular, high quality sleep is where it can most effectively consolidate the lessons of the previous day, and prepare the mind for whatever tasks may come tomorrow.

Consolidation: Sleep, Memory and Learning

References Baran, B., Daniels, D., & Spencer, R. C. (2013). Sleep-Dependent Consolidation of Value-Based Learning. Plos ONE, 8(10), 1-5. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075326 Beijamini, F., Pereira, S., Cini, F., & Louzada, F. (2014). After Being Challenged by a Video Game Problem, Sleep Increases the Chance to Solve It. Plos ONE, 9(1), 1-5. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084342 Haimov, I., & Shatil, E. (2013). Cognitive Training Improves Sleep Quality and Cognitive Function among Older Adults with Insomnia. Plos ONE, 8(4), 1-17. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061390 Nieuwenhuis, I. C., Folia, V., Forkstam, C., Jensen, O., & Petersson, K. (2013). Sleep Promotes the Extraction of Grammatical Rules. Plos ONE, 8(6), 1-10. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065046 Van Dongen, E. V., Thielen, J., Takashima, A., Barth, M., Fernndez, G., & Felmingham, K. (2012). Sleep Supports Selective Retention of Associative Memories Based on Relevance for Future Utilization. Plos ONE, 7(8), 1-6. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043426 Wilson, M. A., & McNaughton, B. L. (1994). Reactivation of hippocampal ensemble memories during sleep. Science, 265(5172), 676-679. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2884280 .