Psychology Commons^™

Processing Of Emotional Reactivity And Emotional Memory Over Sleep, Bengi Baran, Edward F. Pace-Schott, Callie Ericson, Rebecca M. C. Spencer

Rebecca M. C. Spencer

Sleep enhances memories, particularly emotional memories. As such, it has been suggested that sleep deprivation may reduce post-traumatic stress disorder. This presumes that emotional memory consolidation is paralleled by a reduction in emotional reactivity, an association that has not yet been examined. In the present experiment, we utilized an incidental memory task in humans and obtained valence and arousal ratings during two sessions separated either by 12 hours of daytime wake or 12 hours including overnight sleep. Recognition accuracy was greater following sleep relative to wake for both negative and neutral pictures. While emotional reactivity to negative pictures was greatly …