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Sleep deprivation induces fragmented memory loss

Jennifer E. Ashton, Marcus O. Harrington, Diane Langthorne, Hong Viet V. Ngo, Scott A. Cairney*

*Corresponding author for this work

Abstract

Sleep deprivation increases rates of forgetting in episodic memory. Yet, whether an extended lack of sleep alters the qualitative nature of forgetting is unknown. We compared forgetting of episodic memories across intervals of overnight sleep, daytime wakefulness, and overnight sleep deprivation. Item-level forgetting was amplified across daytime wakefulness and overnight sleep deprivation, as compared to sleep. Importantly, however, overnight sleep deprivation led to a further deficit in associative memory that was not observed after daytime wakefulness. These findings suggest that sleep deprivation induces fragmentation among item memories and their associations, altering the qualitative nature of episodic forgetting.

Original languageEnglish
JournalLearning and Memory
Volume27
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)130-135
Number of pages6
ISSN1072-0502
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 04.2020

Funding

This work was supported by Medical Research Council (MRC) Career Development Award (MR/P020208/1) to S.A.C. We are very grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Research Areas and Centers

  • Academic Focus: Center for Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM)

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