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Sequence-Level Emotional Context Reactivation during Sleep: Driving Positive Memory Learning Across Wakefulness and REM Stages

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

Tianqi Di¹ (), Jiahui Li¹, Xiaoqing Hu¹; ¹The University of Hong Kong

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep plays a crucial role in emotion and memory. Prior studies have shown that targeted memory reactivation (TMR) during REM can modulate emotional responses upon waking up. However, how TMR may induce emotional learning during REM remains underexplored. This study examines how reactivating positive emotional sequence during REM sleep can drive positive memory learning. During wakefulness (N=30), participants first learn two sets of word-picture pairs (positive vs. neutral) via sequential presentation. Each sequence involves eight items: six real positive words together with two pseudowords positioned in the middle and at the end of the sequence. During REM sleep, we replayed the positive words sequence, interspersed with novel pseudowords. Upon waking up, participants performed an implicit emotional preference task for pseudowords and a recognition task for all words. Results revealed that TMR increased positive responses to pseudowords cued at the sequence level during REM (t=3.76, p<0.001, Coden’s d=0.62). Pseudowords in neutral positive sequences elicited more positive ERPs (0.5-0.8 s post-stimulus) and lower 4-11 Hz EEG power than those in neutral sequences. Regarding memory accuracies for word-picture pairs, we did not find significant differences between cued and uncued conditions(F=4.07, p>0.05). However, at the sequence level, cueing effects were stronger for positive sequences (memory accuracy for word order, F=26.45, p<0.001). These findings demonstrate that reactivating positive sequences during REM sleep can induce an emotional context that allows affective learning of otherwise neutral stimuli.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Emotion-cognition interactions