Face-name TMR experimental protocol: two music-associated classes, nap cueing, and interference learning

Design · All designs
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description

A laboratory procedure in which participants learned 80 face-name pairs (40 per class, ostensibly Japanese History and Latin-American History classes), each class with a distinctive instrumental music track. Learning combined face viewing with spoken and written names, recall training with feedback, and visualization practice. Presleep tests assessed recognition (230 faces: old, rotated, new) and name recall; a mean 59-minute nap followed with manual TMR cueing during N3; interference learning of 20 new pairs preceded postsleep tests.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• EEG recording to detect N3 sleep and pause cueing on transitions to other stages or wake
• Spoken-name cue intensity manually controlled at 45–50 dB peak, the highest volume possible without causing arousal

Constraints

• Due to a technical error, the study could not test whether TMR effects differed for spoken-name-plus-music cues versus music-only cues within the cued class

Target Learners

• adult participants (18–31, mean age 23.38) recruited from a university population and surrounding community

Learning Goals

• face recognition and name recall for newly learned people

Claims

• TMR benefits on name recall are negatively correlated with post-cue sleep disruption and post-cue beta-band EEG power, suggesting reactivation depends on undisturbed sleep [+W]
• N3 duration, cuing, and sleep-disruption measures are intercorrelated but represent separable facets of sleep quality in predicting the recall cuing effect [+W]
• The TMR cuing effect on face recognition accuracy is associated with N3 sleep duration, though cueing did not significantly improve recognition overall [+W]
• Sleep Disruption Index classifies TMR responders: participants with an index below 0.13 showed a positive recall cuing effect, those above did not show a significant one [+W]
• The TMR cuing effect on name recall is positively correlated with the duration of stage N3 (slow-wave) sleep during the nap [+W]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• Whitmore, N. W., Bassard, A. M. & Paller, K. A. (2022). Targeted memory reactivation of face-name learning depends on ample and undisturbed slow-wave sleep. npj Science of Learning, 7:1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00119-2

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	face-name-tmr-nap-protocol
title	Face-name TMR experimental protocol: two music-associated classes, nap cueing, and interference learning
description	A laboratory procedure in which participants learned 80 face-name pairs (40 per class, ostensibly Japanese History and Latin-American History classes), each class with a distinctive instrumental music track.
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-26
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — whitmore-2022

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