No Evidence for a Targeted Memory Reactivation Effect on Word-Meaning Priming

Lewis Vincent Ball; Eva Kimel; Vanessa Keller; Eloise Ward; Scott Ashley Cairney; Matthew Mak; Lu Li; Jennifer M. Rodd; Gareth Gaskell

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109264

No Evidence for a Targeted Memory Reactivation Effect on Word-Meaning Priming

Lewis Vincent Ball, Eva Kimel, Vanessa Keller, Eloise Ward, Scott Ashley Cairney, Matthew Mak, Lu Li, Jennifer M. Rodd, Gareth Gaskell

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The subordinate meaning of a homonym becomes temporarily more accessible after it is encountered, an effect termed word-meaning priming. Over the longer-term, word-meaning priming is better maintained across periods of sleep compared with wakefulness. This has been explained as sleep actively consolidating episodic memories related to recent linguistic events (Gaskell et al., 2019). Here, we tested this hypothesis by investigating whether word-meaning priming can be boosted following sleep using targeted memory reactivation (TMR), a technique of biassing specific memories for sleep-based consolidation by presenting information-associated sensory cues during sleep. Experiment 1 confirmed that word-meaning priming is elicited with the inclusion of encoding instructions that are necessary for a TMR manipulation. In Experiment 2, 40 (of 80) homonyms were primed toward their subordinate meaning in an exposure phase via a sentence, which was also associated with an auditory cue (the homonym) for TMR. Participants then took a ~2 hour nap, where half of the cues from exposure (memory cues) were replayed with the aim of strengthening the subordinate sentence meaning, along with 20 cues that had not been encountered previously (control cues). After sleep, there was an overall word-meaning priming effect, however there was no additional benefit of TMR on priming, nor did TMR benefit the recall of contextual information. Interestingly, there was an increased sleep spindle/beta band power response to memory cues relative to control cues, indicating cue-evoked memory reprocessing during sleep. These findings imply a bounded role of sleep in actively consolidating linguistic-related memories.

Original language	English
Article number	109264
Journal	Neuropsychologia
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109264
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 27 Aug 2025

Bibliographical note

This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy.

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10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109264

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Cite this

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title = "No Evidence for a Targeted Memory Reactivation Effect on Word-Meaning Priming",

abstract = "The subordinate meaning of a homonym becomes temporarily more accessible after it is encountered, an effect termed word-meaning priming. Over the longer-term, word-meaning priming is better maintained across periods of sleep compared with wakefulness. This has been explained as sleep actively consolidating episodic memories related to recent linguistic events (Gaskell et al., 2019). Here, we tested this hypothesis by investigating whether word-meaning priming can be boosted following sleep using targeted memory reactivation (TMR), a technique of biassing specific memories for sleep-based consolidation by presenting information-associated sensory cues during sleep. Experiment 1 confirmed that word-meaning priming is elicited with the inclusion of encoding instructions that are necessary for a TMR manipulation. In Experiment 2, 40 (of 80) homonyms were primed toward their subordinate meaning in an exposure phase via a sentence, which was also associated with an auditory cue (the homonym) for TMR. Participants then took a ~2 hour nap, where half of the cues from exposure (memory cues) were replayed with the aim of strengthening the subordinate sentence meaning, along with 20 cues that had not been encountered previously (control cues). After sleep, there was an overall word-meaning priming effect, however there was no additional benefit of TMR on priming, nor did TMR benefit the recall of contextual information. Interestingly, there was an increased sleep spindle/beta band power response to memory cues relative to control cues, indicating cue-evoked memory reprocessing during sleep. These findings imply a bounded role of sleep in actively consolidating linguistic-related memories.",

author = "Ball, {Lewis Vincent} and Eva Kimel and Vanessa Keller and Eloise Ward and Cairney, {Scott Ashley} and Matthew Mak and Lu Li and Rodd, {Jennifer M.} and Gareth Gaskell",

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AU - Ball, Lewis Vincent

AU - Kimel, Eva

AU - Keller, Vanessa

AU - Ward, Eloise

AU - Cairney, Scott Ashley

AU - Mak, Matthew

AU - Li, Lu

AU - Rodd, Jennifer M.

AU - Gaskell, Gareth

N1 - This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy.

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