REM Sleep on It!

Upon discovery, rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMs) was met with curiosity regarding its function due to its association with dreaming and the seemingly paradoxical occurrence of ‘wake-like' eye and brain activity during sleeping behavior. Six decades later, a substantial body of evidence linking REMs to memory formation has been described (Rasch and Born, 2013). In humans, increased REM amounts have been reported following procedural memory tasks, as well as declarative memory tasks incorporating complex or emotionally relevant material. Furthermore, depriving REMs after learning of such tasks produced memory deficits. Similar findings have been described in rodents using tasks such as the Morris water maze and active or passive avoidance (Abel et al, 2013)