REM Bursts and REM Sleep following Visual and Auditory Learning

In the investigation of pre-sleep variables that affect sleep stage distribution and eye movement bursts during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep, 24 paid student volunteers slept three nights in the laboratory. Preceding sleep on the third night they underwent a four-hour learning task which involved either visual learning (Group VL), minimal visual learning (Group MVL), auditory learning (Group AL) or minimal auditory learning (Group MAL). Groups VL and AL showed significantly greater increases in percentage REM sleep than groups MVL and MAL from the control to the experimental night, while groups VL and MVL showed greater increases in rapid eye movement bursts occurring during REM than groups AL and MAL from control to experimental night. These results were interpreted to support the notion that memory consolidation occurs during REM sleep. It was speculated that actual eye movements represent a sensory scanning process of pre-sleep events.