Center for Sleep & Cognition

Sleep and Cognition Research

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The Center for Sleep & Cognition (CfSC) is devoted to research into the cognitive and emotional functions of sleep and dreaming, and the role of these processes in the evolution of memories. Specifically, we are interested in how sleep and dreaming participate in the normal processing of emotional experiences and of memories more generally, and how these processes contribute to the mental health of the individual.

The Center for Sleep & Cognition was established by Dr. Robert Stickgold in 2003 as an outgrowth of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, which was under the direction of J. Allan Hobson. Now under the direction of Dr. Tony Cunningham, the CfSC resides in the Clinical Research Center (CRC) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and is home to four state-of-the-art sleep rooms, top-of-the-line high-density electroencephalogram (hdEEG) Amplifiers, polysomnography (PSG) recording and analysis systems, nursing staff support, and a nutrition team.

Current research is focused on the role of sleep in memory consolidation, enhancement, and integration, and the deficits in these processes associated with sleep disorders as well as a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders.