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. 2025 Feb;53(2):453-466.
doi: 10.3758/s13421-024-01576-x. Epub 2024 May 14.

Awake targeted memory reactivation doesn't work

Linda J Hoffman  1 , Julia M Foley  1 , Büşra Tanrıverdi  1 , Jason Chein  1 , Ingrid R Olson  2
Affiliations

Awake targeted memory reactivation doesn't work

Linda J Hoffman et al. Mem Cognit. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Memories are pliable and can be biased by post-encoding information. In targeted memory reactivation (TMR) studies, participants encode information then sleep, during which time sounds or scents that were previously associated with the encoded images are re-presented in an effort to trigger reactivation of the associated memory traces. Upon subsequent testing, memory for reactivated items is often enhanced. Is sleep essential for this process? The literature on awake TMR is small and findings are mixed. Here, we asked English-speaking adults to learn Japanese vocabulary words. During a subsequent active rest phase, participants played Tetris while sound cues associated with the vocabulary words were presented. Results showed that when memories were reactivated, they were either disrupted (Experiment 1) or unaffected (Experiments 2, 3). These findings indicate that awake TMR is not beneficial, and may actually impair subsequent memory. These findings have important implications for research on memory consolidation and reactivation.

Keywords: Consolidation; Hippocampus; Reactivation; Replay; Second language learning; Sleep; Vocabulary.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A) Encoding phase: Japanese vocabulary words and their English translations were presented with corresponding images, for instance a cat, and sounds, for instance “meow.” All 72 words were presented randomly three times over in Studies 1 and 2, and six times over in Study 3. (B) Recognition test: Participants indicated via keypress whether the Japanese word presented to them was congruent or incongruent to the picture shown on the screen
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
(A) Study 1 memory performance for the full sample (left) and for the low performers (right); (B) Study 2 memory performance; (C) Study 3 memory performance. Note that the legend labels (to-be) cued/uncued points to the fact that in Experiment 1, immediate test, items were already cued, whereas in Experiment 2 and 3, baseline test, participants did not yet know these items were to be cued. Yellow diamonds represent the mean of the distribution. **p < .01, ***p < .001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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