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The method of loci (MoL) and memory consolidation: Dreaming is not MoL-like

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2013

Tore Nielsen
Tore Nielsen*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, and Dream & Nightmare Laboratory, Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montreal, Montreal, QC H4J 1C5, Canada. [email protected]://www.dreamscience.ca
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Abstract

Certain method of loci (MoL) prerequisites – familiar, coherently ordered locations – should appear during dreaming if the latter is, in fact, elaborative memory encoding as hypothesized by Llewellyn. A review of the literature suggests that dreamed locations are neither familiar nor coherently ordered and thus unsuitable for facilitating memory in this sense. This conclusion converges with other evidence that episodic memory is dependent upon non–rapid eye movement (NREM), rather than REM, sleep.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 624 - 625
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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