Article comprehension check 1

Question 1

main finding regarding sleep and improvement on the task

Answer 1

Performance on a visual discrimination task showed maximal
improvement 48–96 hours after initial training, even without
intervening practice.

Question 2

Sleep deprivation hours after training can interfere with con-
solidation, which suggests

Answer 2

involvement of sleep in consolida-
tion 4 , with rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep 5 and deeper,
slow-wave sleep (SWS) 6 subserving distinct functions 7 .

Question 3

We subsequently showed that
improvement on this task only occurs when

Answer 3

subjects are tested
following a night of sleep, and that this overnight improvement
is proportional to the amount of SWS in the first quarter of the
night and of REM sleep in the last quarter, with these two sleep
parameters explaining 80% of the intersubject variance in
improvement

Question 4

These results suggests what leads to
consolidation and improvement on this task?

Answer 4

that it is the occurrence
of sleep, rather than the simple passage of time,

Question 5

We now report
that performance following a single training session improves
beyond the first 24 hours, and improves more after a second
night of sleep. We show that this improvement is absolutely
dependent on…?
what do these findings add to in regards to previous research

Answer 5

the first night of sleep, and that subsequent sleep
cannot replace the first night requirement. These findings add
to related data from the last three decades, which suggest that
sleep after training can be important in consolidation, integra-
tion and maintenance of memories

Question 6

When testing occurred after longer intervals, even more
improvement was observed- give an example (Fig. 2, black bars).

Answer 6

Subjects tested
2–7 days after training showed significantly more improvement
than those tested after only 1 day

Question 7

what is still uncertain

Answer 7

Thus, it remains uncertain whether subjects deprived of one night
of sleep can still show some minimal improvement with subse-
quent recovery sleep.

Question 8

Along with our previous findings 11 of a linear relationship
between improved performance and the amounts of subsequent
early-night SWS and late-night REM sleep, these results suggest
that

Answer 8

overnight improvement on the visual discrimination task
requires at least three temporally distinct steps, the first occur-
ring during initial training and the other two occurring during
subsequent early night SWS and late night REM sleep, respec-
tively.