A Full Night's Sleep at Home Improves Memory Performance in an Associative and Relational Learning Task

This study evaluated the effect of sleep in mediating episodic memory performances in a recognition task of visually associated and related elements. It also considered links between memory performances, dreamsmentation, and emotional salience of items. Two groups of participants were studied; in the wake group, they stayed awake on a normal day, and in the sleep group, they slept at home according to their usual sleep schedule and context. Compared with the wake group, participants in the sleep group performed better in the delayed associative and relational tests. Negative and positive emotional images were better recognized by the participants than neutral ones with no group specificity. Examination of dream reports suggested that reporting a dream related to the present study was associated with an increase in recognition performances. Overall, our research demonstrated how new associative and relational links can be consolidated in memory following a full night's sleep.