{"id":1199,"date":"2014-05-02T12:28:16","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T16:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/?p=1199"},"modified":"2017-06-27T15:38:59","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T19:38:59","slug":"sleep-and-memory-the-importance-of-peripheral-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/2014\/05\/02\/sleep-and-memory-the-importance-of-peripheral-details\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleep and Memory: The importance of peripheral details"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sleep has been to known to be a critical element for the functioning of humans. Today, in fact, I awoke early to go to the gym after getting a less than satisfying night\u2019s sleep when I was met with the classic dilemma: get out of bed and be a productive person or let the comforts of my bed envelop me and fall back asleep? I chose the former, reluctantly. On days following a poor night of sleep I will pass by nearly everyone (friends, strangers, familiar faces) without really noticing their presence\u2013\u2013the only thoughts to which my mind attaches are the idea of taking a nap or waiting for nightfall to come. Generally speaking, sleep patterns can have a profound effect on our physical, emotional, and cognitive capacities. But can sleep actually affect performance when we truly need to focus, such as at a crime scene? The authors of the following study sought to investigate how sleep can affect memory recall. But before I delve into the study, it is important to mention past research on the glaring imperfections of memory recall, as well as the relationship between sleep and memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\"sleep\"<\/p>\n

Neisser (1981) studied the testimony of a prominent figure in the Watergate scandal, John Dean. He was asked to recall certain conversations he had with President Nixon, but he was unaware of the fact that such conversations had been recorded. When comparing his sworn testimony with the recordings, there were many inaccuracies, despite the great level of detail that Dean provided. This is an example of someone reconstructing an event and recalling what they think happened. To further illustrate the malleability of memory, Loftus & Palmer (1974) introduced a concept called the misinformation effect. They showed all participants a video of a two-car crash, and thereafter added a manipulation by asking \u201chow fast were the cars going when they (contacted, hit, bumped, collided, smashed) each other?\u201d Those who received the question with the word \u201ccollided\u201d or \u201csmashed\u201d reported higher speeds than those in the \u201ccontacted\u201d or \u201chit\u201d condition. In general terms, these studies clearly show how memory recall is certainly not infallible, much to my chagrin (I still think my memory recall is flawless). Lastly, prior studies have looked at the role that sleep can play in memory consolidation, or the way information is encoded and transferred from short-term to long-term memory stores (Diekelmann & Born, 2010). Encoding refers to way we perceive new information, and how we assign meaning to it so it can be stored and retrieved at a later time. These studies show that sleep helps with memory consolidation, which is not a surprise. However, there has been little research on the effect of sleep prior<\/i> to encountering and encoding new stimuli.<\/p>\n

In the current study, researchers had 75 participants watch a two-minute video clip of a bank robbery. They were interested in three sleep-related variables as it pertained to memory recall. First, before watching the video, participants were asked to assess their current level of sleepiness. After the video, they then completed measures pertaining to their previous night\u2019s sleep, both its duration and quality. Thereafter, they answered questions regarding both the central and peripheral details of the crime (central details are those in the foreground of the scene whereas peripheral details are spatially in the background). The only possible responses were \u201cyes,\u201d \u201cno,\u201d or \u201cdon\u2019t know.\u201d The principal finding was that as sleep quality decreased and sleepiness increased, participants\u2019 recall for peripheral details was significantly diminished. Clearly, these details were not adequately attended to and thus were not properly encoded. When a stimulus is not encoded, it cannot be available for recall. Although participants responded \u201cdon\u2019t know\u201d for roughly a third of the questions, these responses were not included when considering response accuracy\u2013\u2013it was only when a \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d response was recorded that accuracy was taken into consideration. Although recall for peripheral details worsened as a function of sleepiness, participants were able to accurately recall central details regardless of their prior night of sleep or their sleepiness at the time. So, what\u2019s the big deal? If people can still remember the most important details of a situation without a good night of sleep, how important can sleep really be for memory?<\/p>\n

\"crime\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Honestly, I do not know. However, I do think the findings from this study could be generalized in some way. Think of it in terms of studying for a test. If I do not get adequate sleep the night prior, I will likely still remember the key concepts if I\u2019ve done the proper amount of studying. But what if I forget the smaller details, and what if those details are the difference between an A or B in the class? On a different note, I could be driving after staying up too late the previous night. Once again, I will probably be able to notice the cars passing to my left, but what if I don\u2019t see the deer in my periphery that is about to dart across the road in front of my car? Sometimes in life it\u2019s the little things that make all the difference. So rest up, get some sleep, and you\u2019ll be more equipped to remember the seemingly insignificant details of life that could end up being oh so important.<\/p>\n

To read the original article, click here<\/a><\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2010). The memory function of sleep. Nature Reviews \u00a0\u00a0Neuroscience, 11<\/i>(2), 114-126.<\/p>\n

Loftus, E. F., & Palmer, J. C. (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 language and memory. Readings in social psychology: The art and science of research<\/i>, 13<\/i>(5), 585-589.<\/p>\n

Neisser, U. (1981). John Dean\u2019s Memory: A case study. Cognition, 9<\/i>(1), 1-22. Doi:10.1016\/0020-277(81)90011-1<\/p>\n

Thorley, C. (2013). The effects of recent sleep duration, sleep quality, and current sleepiness on eyewitness memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 27<\/i>(5), 690-695.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sleep has been to known to be a critical element for the functioning of humans. Today, in fact, I awoke early to go to the gym after getting a less than satisfying night\u2019s sleep when I was met with the classic dilemma: get out of bed and be a productive person or let the comforts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80215],"tags":[542],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1199"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1540,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199\/revisions\/1540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/cogblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}