Trial reportThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2013
The critical role of sleep spindles in hippocampal-dependent memory: a pharmacology study.
Trial report in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 174 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
174 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 339 citations in OpenAlex.
- Should we all just take 10? A meta-analysis of wakeful rest.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2026Pooled it
- Memory retention following acoustic stimulation in slow-wave sleep: a meta-analytic review of replicability and measurement quality.Frontiers in sleep · 2023Pooled it
- Cognitive Impairment Following Clinical or Recreational Use of Gammahydroxybutyric Acid (GHB): A Systematic Review.Current neuropharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- A sleep schedule incorporating naps benefits the transformation of hierarchical knowledge.Sleep · 2022Trial
- The effect of zolpidem on targeted memory reactivation during sleep.Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) · 2021Trial
- The effects of eszopiclone on sleep spindles and memory consolidation in schizophrenia: a randomized clinical trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Sleep quality predicts treatment outcome in CBT for social anxiety disorder.Depression and anxiety · 2013Trial
- Remote Longitudinal Tracking of Sleep, Depression, and Cognition Across Early Adolescence: Protocol for a Longitudinal Observational Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Article
- Review
- Auditory Stimulation of Slow-Wave Sleep Promotes Recovery after Brain Injury in an Animal Model.Annals of neurology · 2026Article
- Noradrenergic infraslow rhythm during sleep is the critical link between heart-rate dynamics and memory consolidation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- To advance sleep science, let's study change.Sleep · 2026Article
- Exploratory associations of sleep spindles and sleep disordered breathing indices with hippocampal and thalamic volume, and cortical thickness, and cerebrovascular biomarkers among community dwelling older adults: results from the Brain in Motion Study.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- Assessing sleep, cognition and overnight memory performance in neurotypically developing youth in a children's hospital.Frontiers in sleep · 2026Article
- The Role of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep in Neural Differentiation of Memories in the Hippocampus.Journal of cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
114 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
An important function of sleep is the consolidation of memories, and features of sleep, such as rapid eye movement (REM) or sleep spindles, have been shown to correlate with improvements in discrete memory domains. Because of the methodological difficulties in modulating sleep, however, a causal link between specific sleep features and human memory consolidation is lacking. Here, we experimentally manipulated specific sleep features during a daytime nap via direct pharmacological intervention. Using zolpidem (Ambien), a short-acting GABAA agonist hypnotic, we show increased sleep spindle density and decreased REM sleep compared with placebo and sodium oxybate (Xyrem). Naps with increased spindles produced significantly better verbal memory and significantly worse perceptual learning but did not affect motor learning. The experimental spindles were similar to control spindles in amplitude and frequency, suggesting that the experimental intervention enhanced normal sleep processes. Furthermore, using statistical methods, we demonstrate for the first time a critical role of spindles in human hippocampal memory performance. The gains in memory consolidation exceed sleep-alone or control conditions and demonstrate the potential for targeted, exceptional memory enhancement in healthy adults with pharmacologically modified sleep.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.