Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Kensinger / Research in three parts investigated sleep’s preferential consolidation of memories for experiences that are prioritized at encoding due to intrinsic characteristics (e.g., emotion), extrinsic characteristics (e.g., instructed learning, reward), or both. Results showed that sleep broadly strengthens memory for future-relevant information, with these prioritization cues at encoding aiding in the selection process for what is subsequently strengthened during sleep. Part I investigated the effects of sleep on the consolidation of information that was prioritized at encoding due to the intrinsic cue of emotion. Results showed that even once the emotionally salient aspect of the stimuli was removed (i.e., when memory was tested using a neutral cue), residual effects of emotion were reflected in enhanced visual activity following sleep, with this visual activity correlating with the percentage of rapid eye movement sleep obtained during consolidation and likely driven by enhanced occipital-hippocampal connectivity following sleep. This suggests that sleep prioritizes information that was salient due to the intrinsic cue of emotion at encoding, leading to changes in neural activity during retrieval even once that intrinsic cue is no longer present. As in Part I, most prior research has examined how sleep preferentially consolidates memory for information that is salient due to a single cue for future relevance. Part II investigated whether future relevance can be assigned to stimuli via top-down manipulations (i.e., extrinsic prioritization cues), as well as how sleep prioritizes memory for information when intrinsic and extrinsic cues for future relevance co-occur within the same stimuli. Results suggest that when multiple dimensions of future relevance co-occur, sleep prioritizes extrinsic cues (i.e., instructed learning, and to a lesser degree, reward) over intrinsic cues (i.e., emotion). Further, results suggest that additional cues for future relevance do not have additive effects on consolidation, but rather that sleep may binarize information based on whether it is future-relevant or not, preferentially consolidating memory for the former category. Lastly, Part III focused on a manipulation of extrinsic prioritization at encoding to investigate both how the effects of prioritization on memory differ minutes after encoding relative to after long-term consolidation processes take place, and also whether these effects depend on if a healthy versus restricted amount of nocturnal sleep is obtained during the consolidation interval. Results showed that a top-down manipulation of prioritization (i.e., typographical cueing) was effective in enhancing memory; highlighted relative to non-highlighted content was better remembered at multiple time points, with evidence suggesting that N3 (slow-wave) sleep may contribute to these memorial benefits. Together, findings across Parts I-III suggest that sleep selectively strengthens future-relevant information, elucidating which cues for future relevance at the time of encoding lead to enhanced consolidation following sleep, as well as how sleep acts on intrinsic and extrinsic prioritization cues when they co-occur. In identifying intrinsic targets of sleep’s selective consolidation effects, as well as extrinsic manipulations that can be applied to use sleep as a tool to enhance consolidation, these three studies have important implications for optimizing memory that are relevant across domains. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

Lau Po Shan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-63). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Literature Review and hypotheses --- p.4 / Chapter 3. --- Sample Selection and methodology --- p.9 / Chapter 4. --- Valuation Results --- p.15 / Chapter 5. --- Additional analysis of spinoffs and mergers --- p.28 / Chapter 6. --- Conclusion --- p.41 / Chapter 7. --- Tables --- p.43 / Chapter 8. --- Bibliography --- p.62

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The present study was conducted to examine the process of consolidation when learning a difficult bimanual coordination pattern. There are two phenomena associated with the process of consolidation, an enhancement in performance without additional practice and the stabilization observed as resistance to interference from a similar task after acquisition of a novel skill. Both phenomena have been widely examined in sequence skill learning studies. However, few studies have examined the consolidation effect after training of a continuous and rhythmic bimanual coordination pattern. The first goal of this study was to determine if sleep enhances the performance of a minimally trained 1:2 pattern of bimanual coordination in a manner that has been observed with sequencing skills, that is, performance significantly improves after an overnight sleep. A recent study by Buchanan & Wang (in-press) showed that by manipulating the position of a visual-augmented-feedback cursor, either behind or to-the-side of a 1:2 bimanual coordination template, an advantage of the side cursor position was found in the no-feedback retention test after a fifteen-minute break. The second goal was to test whether an overnight sleep may reduce the guidance effect associated with the behind cursor position as reported in Buchanan & Wang (in-press). In the present experiment, the effect of an overnight sleep on learning a 1:2 pattern of bimanual coordination was accessed with six test trials presented immediately (IMM group) or 24 hours (SLEEP group) after 5 minutes of practice. The test trials included three trials with feedback and three trials with feedback removed. For either the IMM or SLEEP group, half of the participants practiced with the behind cursor position and the other half practiced with the side cursor position. The results indicated that the SLEEP group showed an improvement in performance from the acquisition trials to the feedback test trials whereas the IMM group did not. The advantage of the side cursor position at the no-feedback retention test was not evident in the current study. These results are consistent with our two predictions and provide evidence of enhancement in learning a 1:2 pattern bimanual coordination skill.

Thesis (Master of Business Administration)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Laverson, Alan. Second Reader: Gates, William. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 27, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Defense industry, Consolidations, Mergers, Acquisitions, Event study, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-58). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (M.S.)--Youngstown State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-50). Also available via the World Wide Web in PDF format.

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