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Phasic REM TMR reduces subjective valence and physiological arousal for highly negative items

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Marta Wawrzuta¹ (), Charlotte Hall¹, Tamas Foldes², Neil Harrison¹, Peter Simor³, Ferenc Gombos⁴, Penny Lewis¹; ¹Cardiff University, ²Oxford University, ³Eötvös Loránd University, ⁴Pázmány Péter Catholic University

The Sleep to Forget, Sleep to Remember (SFSR) hypothesis posits that sleep—particularly REM sleep—supports emotional memory processing by decoupling affect from memory content. This study investigated how Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR) during REM sleep influences emotional reactivity, physiological responses, and memory performance. Twenty-five participants viewed short negative videos before sleep, rated their emotional valence, and underwent ECG recording. During REM sleep, closed-loop TMR was applied to half of the video cues, time-locked to eye movements. Participants repeated valence ratings and a sequential memory task the following morning, and again one and two weeks later. Linear mixed-effects models showed a baseline valence × TMR interaction with a normalizing effect: more negatively rated items became more positive, while less negative items became more negative after TMR (b = -0.05, CI [-0.09, -0.02], p = .004). A significant TMR × N3*REM interaction (b = -0.05, CI [-0.09, -0.01], p = .016) indicated that a higher N3*REM product enhanced heart rate deceleration (HRD) for TMR items, whereas a lower N3*REM product reduced HRD, suggesting that both sleep stages modulate the physiological impact of TMR. Participants in the cued condition showed superior memory performance compared to uncued (b = 0.45, CI [0.17, 0.74], p = .002), and higher baseline valence predicted better memory (b = 0.23, CI [0.02, 0.43], p = .031). These results indicate that REM-locked TMR affects emotional memory processing and autonomic responses, contingent on baseline affect, and sleep architecture.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Emotional responding