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Where is the classic interference theory for sleep and memory?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2005

Anton Coenen*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6500 HENijmegen, The Netherlands

Abstract

Walker's target article proposes a refinement of the well known two-stage model of memory formation to explain the positive effects of sleep on consolidation. After a first stage in which a labile memory representation is formed, a further stabilisation of the memory trace takes place in the second stage, which is dependent on (REM) sleep. Walker has refined the latter stage into a stage in which a consolidation-based enhancement occurs. It is not completely clear what consolidation-based enhancement implies and how it can be dissociated from a stage for memory-stabilisation. A more serious consideration, however, is whether a second stage in memory consolidation that is solely dependent on sleep, is really necessary. The classical, passive, interference theory is able to explain adequately the findings related to the effects of sleep and memory, and can lead perhaps better to an understanding of the highly variable data in this field.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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