Sleep and Autobiographical Memory

Sleep is important for memory consolidation in laboratory-based stimuli, but less is known about how sleep impacts autobiographical memory. In our paper, we review the following: (i) the methods used to study autobiographical memory, (ii) the literature on sleep and autobiographical memory, and (iii) the role that dreaming may play in autobiographical memory consolidation.

Reduced sleep durations, sleep deprivation, and sleep apnea were associated with reduced autobiographical memory specificity. Sleep disruptions also affected the emotional quality of these memories, such that participants recalled more negative memories and memories that were either less emotional or more negative. Sleep, relative to wake, and percent of slow-wave sleep were associated with more detail for autobiographical memories from 12–24 h prior. Finally, improved sleep quality proximal to encoding predicted improved memory accuracy at delays of around one month.

There is evidence that sleep is important in maintaining our ability to retrieve specific and positive autobiographical memories. In addition, there is preliminary evidence that slow-wave sleep and sleep quality are associated with greater detail and accuracy for recent autobiographical memories.