Ruch, SimonSimonRuch0000-0002-5796-4543Züst, MarcMarcZüst0000-0003-3043-2106Henke, KatharinaKatharinaHenke2024-10-092024-10-092022-01https://boris-portal.unibe.ch/handle/20.500.12422/67593Although we can learn new information while asleep, we usually cannot consciously remember the sleep-formed memories – presumably because learning occurred in an unconscious state. Here, we ask whether sleep-learning expedites the subsequent awake-learning of the same information. To answer this question, we reanalyzed data (Züst et al., 2019, Curr Biol) from napping participants, who learned new semantic associations between pseudowords and translation-words (guga–ship) while in slow-wave sleep. They retrieved sleep-formed associations unconsciously on an implicit memory test following awakening. Then, participants took five runs of paired-associative learning to probe carry-over effects of sleep-learning on awake-learning. Surprisingly, sleep-learning diminished awake-learning when participants learned semantic associations that were congruent to sleep-learned associations (guga-boat). Yet, learning associations that conflicted with sleep-learned associations (guga-coin) was unimpaired relative to learning new associations (resun-table; baseline). We speculate that the impeded wake-learning originated in a deficient synaptic downscaling and resulting synaptic saturation in neurons that were activated during both sleep-learning and awake-learning.en100 - Philosophy::150 - Psychologyarticle10.48350/1657223486392210.1016/j.nlm.2021.107569