Classical conditioning during human NREM sleep and response transfer to wakefulness

Abstract

To assess learning abilities during human NREM sleep stages, five subjects underwent simple classical conditioning during stages 2-4 using heart rate (HR) as a measure. Results show (a) significant conditioning effect was observed during slow wave sleep (SWS; stage 3 + 4) but not during stage 2; (b) some evidence was obtained to support the view that conditioning effect during sleep transferred to wakefulness.