Neuroscience · Level 3 · Advanced
Odor-evoked category reactivation in human ventromedial prefrontal cortex during sleep promotes memory consolidation
Shanahan LK, Gjorgieva E, Paller KA, et al. (2018). eLife. doi:10.7554/eLife.39681 · CC BY 4.0
Step 1 of 2Read the paper
Adults learned where objects from four categories sat on a grid, then linked each category to a different smell. During a night-time nap inside an fMRI scanner, two of the smells were puffed during deep sleep. The team asked whether these smells boosted memory for their categories and whether the brain re-created category-specific activity patterns during sleep.
How to read it
- Figure 1 walks through every phase of the experiment; sketch the timeline before reading Results.
- Figure 2 has the behavioural results; check which tests are one-tailed and which effects vanished at one week.
- For Figure 3, focus on what is being correlated: reactivation strength vs cued memory benefit across subjects.
- Read the subjects section and the control-odor paragraph closely: they hold the key limitations.
Step 2 of 2Take the test
15 questions · about 50 minutes including reading · pick an answer to see straight away if it’s right. Nothing is saved.
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Paper: Shanahan LK, Gjorgieva E, Paller KA, et al., eLife (2018), licensed CC BY 4.0. Summary and questions are Research Nest’s own; read the original for the full study.