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Effectiveness of Memory Reactivation during Wake Depends on Brain State

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Erin Wamsley¹ (), Yasmin Wali¹, Rachel Hodge¹, William Livingston; ¹Furman University, Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience

Are memories more easily reactivated during some states of wakefulness than others? We previously developed a data-driven method of identifying moments when participants enter an “offline” state, and found a particular type of offline state to be associated with improved memory consolidation. In the current study, we asked whether this state (“offline2”) benefits consolidation because it facilitates the reactivation of recently encoded memory. We used Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR) to influence memory after encoding, hypothesizing that near-threshold visual cues related to prior learning would be most effective in modifying memory when delivered at moments when participants are in this offline brain state. This hypothesis was supported. However, the effect was in the opposite direction of our prediction – Memory was selectively impaired, rather than enhanced when cues were delivered during offline 2 (one-way ANOVA for effect of state: p=0.02). Still, this observation suggests that learning-related cues modify memory more easily when participants are in a particular type of offline state.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Other