SynthesisPsychonomic bulletin & review2025
Effects of wakeful rest on memory consolidation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Wakeful rest and memory consolidation in an ecologically valid educational setting: no benefit over distractor tasks.Psychological research · 2026Article
- From rest to meaning: default mode network neuroscience as a design constraint for early childhood education.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Individuals spend roughly two-thirds of their day awake, with about half of that time in an offline state. This period may appear unproductive, potentially leading to perceived inefficiency. However, this period appears to be an essential component of our daily lives. Studies have increasingly found that quiet and wakeful rest after learning facilitates the consolidation of newly acquired memories, and enhances memory performance. Few studies quantitatively assessed the overall effect size of wakeful rest on memory consolidation, or examined the potential moderating factors. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis, compiled from 37 studies, including a total of 63 experiments that contributed 82 comparisons to this meta-analysis. We used a multilevel random-effects model to reveal a significant effect of wakeful rest on memory consolidation (Hedges's g = 0.448, 95% CI [0.339, 0.557], Z = 8.044, p < .001), and this effect persists even after 7 days (Hedges's g = 0.270, 95% CI [0.024, 0.516], Z = 2.153, p = .031). The effect of wakeful rest was influenced by age, with older adults deriving greater benefits compared with younger adults. Across different outcome measurements, the effect was better reflected by recall than by recognition. Additionally, the duration of wakeful rest, whether the eyes are open or closed, the luminance level, and the body posture do not seem to influence the wakeful rest effect. This meta-analysis offers a deep understanding of the effects of wakeful rest on memory consolidation and provides guidance for the experimental designs of future research in this area.
Indexed as
Identifiers
40087245What 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.