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. 2025 Aug 28:S1364-6613(25)00207-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2025.07.008. Online ahead of print.

Awake reactivation is not a uniform process

Amir Tal  1 , Eitan Schechtman  2
Affiliations

Awake reactivation is not a uniform process

Amir Tal et al. Trends Cogn Sci. .

Abstract

Memories are consolidated during restful wakefulness, but the mechanisms underlying this process are poorly understood. We argue that wakeful reactivation is not monolithic: it encompasses non-conscious and conscious processes with varying levels of elaboration and diverging consequences. Refining reactivation as a concept may help avoid conflicting results on wake consolidation.

Keywords: consolidation; memory; reactivation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Competitive (online) vs. integrative (offline) memory dynamics following reactivation during wakefulness.
We propose that conscious retrieval involves selection of one prevailing memory, and thus leads to competitive dynamics (left), increasing the strength of a selected memory (blue line and cloud) at the expense of non-selected alternatives (yellow and red lines and clouds). We propose that non-conscious reactivation is non-selective, and thus leads to integrative dynamics (right), strengthening and integrating all associated memories.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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