The role of sleep in fear learning and memory

Per Davidson; Edward Pace-Schott

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.016

The role of sleep in fear learning and memory

Curr Opin Psychol. 2020 Aug:34:32-36. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.016. Epub 2019 Aug 31.

Authors

Per Davidson¹, Edward Pace-Schott²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Psychology, Lund University, Box 213, 221 00, Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: pdavidson3@mgh.harvard.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.

Abstract

During the last 10 years, a large body of studies have used fear conditioning paradigms to study the role of sleep in the consolidation of fear and safety learning. This line of research could allow us to answer if it is adaptive or not to sleep in the aftermath of a negative experience, and if sleep has a role in consolidating extinction learning. This field has so far produced several contrasting findings. Thus, this review will not deliver many clear conclusions, but will instead be an attempt to summarize what we know at the moment, to describe the potential clinical applications of this research, and to discuss where to go from here.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Extinction, Psychological*
Fear*
Humans
Learning
Sleep

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding