Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 118, Issue 51, Pages -Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2109339118
Keywords
working memory; long-term memory; sleep; vagal activity; spindle activity
Categories
Funding
- NIH [R01AG046646]
- Office 16 of Naval Research
- [N00014-14-1-0513]
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The study provides evidence that long-term memory and working memory in humans are supported by different offline neural mechanisms that compete for resources during sleep, leading to a behavioral trade-off. This suggests the presence of a sleep switch mechanism that toggles between different memory processing during sleep.
We provide evidence that human sleep is a competitive arena in which cognitive domains vie for limited resources. Using pharmacology and effective connectivity analysis, we demonstrate that long-term memory and working memory are served by distinct offline neural mechanisms that are mutually antagonistic. Specifically, we administered zolpidem to increase central sigma activity and demonstrated targeted suppression of autonomic vagal activity. With effective connectivity, we determined the central activity has greater causal influence over autonomic activity, and the magnitude of this influence during sleep produced a behavioral trade-off between offline long-term and working memory processing. These findings suggest a sleep switch mechanism that toggles between central sigma-dependent long-term memory and autonomic vagal-dependent working memory processing.
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