When and How Does Post-Encoding Wakeful Rest Benefit Memory? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Abstract
Engaging in short periods of wakeful rest following encoding can benefit later memory retrieval of encoded material. The magnitude of and mechanisms driving this wakeful rest effect are, however, unclear. Accordingly, this review's main objectives are 1) estimating an aggregate wakeful rest effect, 2) identifying the main experimental determinants of the wakeful rest effect, and 3) synthesizing insights on the mechanisms driving the wakeful rest effect. For this preregistered meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration number CRD42023487595), we searched Google Scholar, PubMed, PsycINFO, PsycART, and Web of Science for all peer-reviewed studies of adult healthy and memory-impaired humans, manipulating participants' post-encoding activities to compare declarative memory performance between periods of wakeful rest and other activities. Update searches were conducted on 20.05.2026. The identified studies were assessed for potential risk of bias using the RoB 2 tool and synthesized in a three-level meta-regression approach. In total, we included 54 studies with 3673 individual participants contributing data. An aggregate wakeful rest effect of g = 0.35 (95% CI [0.23, 0.46], p < .001) was found, indicating substantially better memory performance following post-encoding rest compared to active comparator conditions. Our results show that the magnitude of the wakeful rest effect depends on several, partially intercorrelated, experimental characteristics, including population, comparator condition, and memory measure, and reveal a clear pattern: human declarative memory performance benefits from post-encoding wakeful rest when demands on our memory system are particularly high.
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BibTeX
@misc{pink2026when,
title = {{When and How Does Post-Encoding Wakeful Rest Benefit Memory? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis}},
author = {Wolf Pink and Annika Notbohm and Anna Röschel and Paula Alejandra Porras López and Dilan Barisan and Cornelia Kranczioch and Mandy Roheger},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/8q3br_v2},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/8q3br_v2/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - When and How Does Post-Encoding Wakeful Rest Benefit Memory? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
AU - Wolf Pink
AU - Annika Notbohm
AU - Anna Röschel
AU - Paula Alejandra Porras López
AU - Dilan Barisan
AU - Cornelia Kranczioch
AU - Mandy Roheger
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/8q3br_v2
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/8q3br_v2/
AB - Engaging in short periods of wakeful rest following encoding can benefit later memory retrieval of encoded material. The magnitude of and mechanisms driving this wakeful rest effect are, however, unclear. Accordingly, this review's main objectives are 1) estimating an aggregate wakeful rest effect, 2) identifying the main experimental determinants of the wakeful rest effect, and 3) synthesizing insights on the mechanisms driving the wakeful rest effect. For this preregistered meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration number CRD42023487595), we searched Google Scholar, PubMed, PsycINFO, PsycART, and Web of Science for all peer-reviewed studies of adult healthy and memory-impaired humans, manipulating participants' post-encoding activities to compare declarative memory performance between periods of wakeful rest and other activities. Update searches were conducted on 20.05.2026. The identified studies were assessed for potential risk of bias using the RoB 2 tool and synthesized in a three-level meta-regression approach. In total, we included 54 studies with 3673 individual participants contributing data. An aggregate wakeful rest effect of g = 0.35 (95% CI [0.23, 0.46], p < .001) was found, indicating substantially better memory performance following post-encoding rest compared to active comparator conditions. Our results show that the magnitude of the wakeful rest effect depends on several, partially intercorrelated, experimental characteristics, including population, comparator condition, and memory measure, and reveal a clear pattern: human declarative memory performance benefits from post-encoding wakeful rest when demands on our memory system are particularly high.
ER -