Comparing the Effects of Sleep and Rest on Memory Consolidation.

Introduction: There is ample evidence that overnight sleep and daytime naps benefit memory retention, compared to comparable amounts of active wakefulness. Yet recent evidence also suggests that a period of post-training rest (eg, quiet wakefulness with eyes closed) provides a similar memory benefit compared to wake. However, the relative benefits of sleep vs quiet waking rest on memory remain poorly understood.

Resting States and Memory Consolidation: A Preregistered Replication and Meta-Analysis.

While several recent studies have found that a post-encoding period of quiet, eyes-closed waking rest benefits memory consolidation, others have reported null effects. To more precisely estimate this effect, we conducted a quasi-exact behavioural replication of a recent study from our lab, which found that post-training eyes-closed waking rest improved declarative memory relative to a distractor task. Contrary to our hypothesis, the observed effect was not significant; however, it did fall within the 95% confidence interval of our previous finding.

Unlearning implicit social biases during sleep: A failure to replicate.

A 2015 article in Science (Hu et al.) proposed a new way to reduce implicit racial and gender biases during sleep. The method built on an existing counter-stereotype training procedure, using targeted memory reactivation to strengthen counter-stereotype memory by playing cues associated with the training during a 90min nap.

A brief period of eyes-closed rest enhances motor skill consolidation.

Post-training sleep benefits both declarative and procedural memory consolidation. However, recent research suggests that eyes-closed waking rest may provide a similar benefit. Brokaw et al.