ReviewFrontiers in psychology2015
The role of REM sleep theta activity in emotional memory.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 105 papers.
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Who cites it
105 citing papers in PubMed, 236 citations in OpenAlex.
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- The role of sleep in strengthening face learning and memory consolidation: A systematic review.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Review
- Sleep deprivation and memory: A neurobiological perspective.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2026Article
- Trait and state predictors of the intensity of emotions experienced in everyday dreams: a multilevel approach.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- EEG Brain Rhythms During Resting-State Wakefulness and Sleep in Elderly Expert Meditators.Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- The effects of tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol on sleep in cancer patients.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Article
- Activation of LH orexin neurons and VTA dopamine neurons is involved in anesthesia/surgery-induced sleep-wake disorders and delirium-like behaviors in mice.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A novel theory of rapid eye movement sleep as an integral component of the seasonal timekeeping apparatus.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Anxiety severity in peri-adolescents is associated with greater generalization of negative memories following a period of sleep relative to wake.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Article
- The effects of nicotine on sleep in female C57BL/6J mice.Behavioural brain research · 2025Article
- Audio-Visual Entrainment Neuromodulation: A Review of Technical and Functional Aspects.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Awe is characterized as an ambivalent affect in the human behavior and cortex.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- Comparison of overnight trends in relative power for specific frequency bands, sleep stages, and brain regions between patients with depressive disorder and matched control subjects.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2025Article
- Entrainment of rhythmic tonal sequences on neural oscillations and the impact on subjective emotion.Scientific reports · 2025Article
45 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
While non-REM (NREM) sleep has been strongly implicated in the reactivation and consolidation of memory traces, the role of rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep remains unclear. A growing body of research on humans and animals provide behavioral evidence for a role of REM sleep in the strengthening and modulation of emotional memories. Theta activity-which describes low frequency oscillations in the local field potential within the hippocampus, amygdala and neocortex-is a prominent feature of both wake and REM sleep in humans and rodents. Theta coherence between the hippocampus and amygdala drives large-scale pontine-geniculo-occipital (PGO) waves, the density of which predicts increases in plasticity-related gene expression. This could potentially facilitate the processing of emotional memory traces within the hippocampus during REM sleep. Further, the timing of hippocampal activity in relation to theta phase is vital in determining subsequent potentiation of neuronal activity. This could allow the emotionally modulated strengthening of novel and gradual weakening of consolidated hippocampal memory traces during REM sleep. Hippocampal theta activity is also correlated with REM sleep levels of achetylcholine - which is thought to reduce hippocampal inputs in the neocortex. The additional low levels of noradrenaline during REM sleep, which facilitate feedback within the neocortex, could allow the integration of novel memory traces previously consolidated during NREM sleep. We therefore propose that REM sleep mediates the prioritized processing of emotional memories within the hippocampus, the integration of previously consolidated memory traces within the neocortex, as well as the disengagement of consolidated neocortical memory traces from the hippocampus.
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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.