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OG-2
Passage 2
Some researchers contend that sleep plays no role in the consolidation of declarative memory (i.e., memory involving factual information). These researchers note that people with impairments in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep continue to lead normal lives, and they argue that if sleep were crucial for memory, then these individuals would have apparent memory deficits. Yet the same researchers acknowledge that the cognitive capacities of these individuals have never been systematically examined, nor have they been the subject of studies of tasks on which performance reportedly depends on sleep. Even if such studies were done, they could only clarify our understanding of the role of REM sleep, not sleep in general.
These researchers also claim that improvements of memory overnight can be explained by the mere passage of time, rather than attributed to sleep. But recent studies of memory performance after sleep — including one demonstrating that sleep stabilizes declarative memories from future interference caused by mental activity during wakefulness — make this claim unsustainable. Certainly there are memory consolidation processes that occur across periods of wakefulness, some of which neither depend on nor are enhanced by sleep. But when sleep is compared with wakefulness, and performance is better after sleep, then some benefit of sleep for memory must be acknowledged.
1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
A. present the evidence that supports a particular claim regarding REM sleep and memory
B. describe how various factors contribute to the effect of sleep on memory
C. argue against a particular position regarding sleep’s role in memory
D. summarize the most prevalent theory regarding sleep and memory
E. defend the importance of the consolidation of declarative memory
2. According to the author of the passage, which of the following generalizations about memory and sleep is true?
A. There are some memory-consolidation processes that have nothing to do with sleep.
B. Sleep is more important to the consolidation of declarative memory than to the consolidation of other types of memory.
C. REM sleep is more important to memory consolidation than is non-REM sleep.
D. There are significant variations in the amount of sleep that people require for the successful consolidation of memory.
E. It is likely that memory is more thoroughly consolidated during wakefulness than during sleep.
3. Which of the following best describes the function of the sentence in lines 14–16 (“Certainly . . . sleep”)?
A. It provides the reasoning behind a claim about the role of sleep in memory consolidation.
B. It explains why a previous claim about sleep and memory is unsustainable.
C. It demonstrates why wakefulness is central to the process of declarative memory consolidation.
D. It emphasizes the limited role sleep plays in the process of declarative memory consolidation.
E. It concedes that the consolidation of declarative memory does not depend entirely on one factor.
4. The importance of the “study” mentioned in lines 12–14 is that it
A. reveals the mechanism by which declarative memory is stabilized during sleep
B. identifies a specific function that sleep plays in the memory-consolidation process
C. demonstrates that some kinds of mental activity can interfere with memory consolidation
D. suggests that sleep and wakefulness are both important to memory consolidation
E. explains how the passage of time contributes to memory consolidation
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