PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Laura Mascetti
AU  - Vincenzo Muto
AU  - Luca Matarazzo
AU  - Ariane Foret
AU  - Erik Ziegler
AU  - Geneviève Albouy
AU  - Virginie Sterpenich
AU  - Christina Schmidt
AU  - Christian Degueldre
AU  - Yves Leclercq
AU  - Christophe Phillips
AU  - André Luxen
AU  - Gilles Vandewalle
AU  - Rufin Vogels
AU  - Pierre Maquet
AU  - Evelyne Balteau
TI  - The Impact of Visual Perceptual Learning on Sleep and Local Slow-Wave Initiation
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0763-12.2013
DP  - 2013 Feb 20
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 3323--3331
VI  - 33
IP  - 8
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/8/3323.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/8/3323.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2013 Feb 20; 33
AB  - During non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, a global decrease in synaptic strength associated with slow waves (SWs) would enhance signal-to-noise ratio of neural responses during subsequent wakefulness. To test this prediction, 32 human volunteers were trained to a coarse orientation discrimination task, in either the morning or evening. They were retested after 8 h of wakefulness or sleep, respectively. Performance was enhanced only after a night of sleep, in the absence of any change in the abundance of NREM SWs but in proportion to the number of SWs “initiated” in lateral occipital areas during posttraining NREM sleep. The sources of these waves overlapped with the lateral occipital complex, in which responses to the learned stimulus, as assessed by fMRI, were selectively increased the next morning. This response enhancement was proportional to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep duration. These results provide an example of local sleep in which local initiation of SWs during NREM sleep predicts later skill improvement and foreshadows locally enhanced neural signals the next day. In addition, REM sleep also promotes local learning-dependent activity, possibly by promoting synaptic plasticity.