SynthesisSleep2023
The effect of sleep on intrusive memories in daily life: a systematic review and meta-analysis of trauma film experiments.
Synthesis in Sleep, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental methods for modulating intrusive memories following lab-analogue trauma exposure in non-clinical populations.Nature human behaviour · 2024Pooled it
- REM sleep reduction leads to fear overgeneralization via negatively modulating prefrontal theta oscillations.BMC medicine · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Mechanisms through which sleep influences intrusive memories: protocol for a trauma film paradigm study.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- Article
- Sleep and day-to-day PTSD symptom variability: an ecological momentary assessment and actigraphy monitored study in trauma-exposed young adults.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
objectivesTo synthesize the literature on the effect of sleep versus wake on the frequency and distress of intrusive memories in everyday life after watching film clips with distressing content as a proxy for traumatic experiences.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review by searching PubMed and PsychInfo. The last search was conducted on January 31, 2022. We included experimental studies comparing sleep and wake groups on intrusions using ecological diary methods, whereas studies lacking a wake control condition or relying solely on intrusion-triggering tasks or retrospective questionnaires were excluded. Meta-analyses were performed to evaluate the results. Risks of biases were assessed following the Cochrane guidelines.
resultsAcross 7 effect sizes from 6 independent studies, sleep (n = 192), as compared to wake (n = 175), significantly reduced the number of intrusive memories (Hedges' g = -0.26, p = .04, 95% CI [-0.50, -0.01]), but not the distress associated with them (Hedges' g = -0.14, p = .25, 95% CI [-0.38, 0.10]).
conclusionsAlthough the results suggest that sleep reduces the number of intrusions, there is a strong need for high-powered pre-registered studies to confirm this effect. Risks of biases in the reviewed work concern the selection of the reported results, measurement of the outcome, and failure to adhere to the intervention. Limitations with the current meta-analysis include the small number of studies, which comprised only English-language articles, and the fact that it was not pre-registered.
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.