Targeted Memory Reactivation During Slow-wave Sleep

Slow wave sleep (SWS) has been shown to improve declarative memory after a learning experience. Notably, mid-sleep cueing of stimuli memorised during learning before sleep improved performance in the post-sleep memory recall tasks. However, there is a lack of data concerning targeted reactivation of auditory memory during SWS. The present study aimed to test participants for memory of auditory stimuli using event-related potentials (ERP) and behavioural tasks before and after cueing by the same sounds during SWS. Additionally, the study controlled how musical education experience could influence sound discrimination and auditory memory, since musicians have significantly better threshold of discriminating similar sounds as compared to non-musicians. Better performances along with increased amplitude of Mismatch Negativity, an ERP index of auditory discrimination, have been observed post-sleep compared to pre-sleep, especially to sounds cued during SWS. Musicians showed better behavioural performance, however, musical education did not influence ERP patterns. Our results suggest that auditory memory can be improved by targeted reactivation during SWS, and this effect may be more prominent for musicians.