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Don't count your chickens before they're hatched: Elaborative encoding in REM dreaming in face of the physiology of sleep stages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2013

Gaétane Deliens ,
Sophie Schwartz  and
Philippe Peigneux
Gaétane Deliens
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit (UR2NF) affiliated with the Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences (CRCN) and ULB Neurosciences Institute (UNI), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Gaetane.Deliens@ulb.ac.be Philippe.Peigneux@ulb.ac.be http://dev.ulb.ac.be/ur2nf/
Sophie Schwartz
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland. Sophie.Schwartz@unige.ch http://labnic.unige.ch/ Center for Affective Science, University of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Philippe Peigneux
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit (UR2NF) affiliated with the Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences (CRCN) and ULB Neurosciences Institute (UNI), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Gaetane.Deliens@ulb.ac.be Philippe.Peigneux@ulb.ac.be http://dev.ulb.ac.be/ur2nf/
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Abstract

Llewellyn suggests that episodic memories undergo “elaborative encoding” during rapid eye movement (REM) dreams, generating novel associations between recent and remote memories that are then instantiated during non-REM (NREM) sleep. This hypothesis conflicts with our knowledge of the physiology of NREM and then REM sleep stages and their ordered succession. Moreover, associations during sleep might also involve the extraction of hidden patterns rather than de novo associations.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 613 - 614
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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