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Research suggests sleep plays a role in the consolidation of recently acquired memories for long-term storage. rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has been shown to play a complex role in emotional-memory processing, and may be involved in subsequent waking-day emotional reactivity and amygdala responsivity. Interaction of the hippocampus and basolateral amygdala with the medial-prefrontal cortex is associated with sleep-dependent learning and emotional memory processing. REM is also implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is characterized by sleep disturbance, heightened reactivity to fearful stimuli, and nightmares. Many suffers of PTSD also exhibit dampened medial-prefrontal cortex activity. However, the effects of PTSD-related brain changes on REM-dependent consolidation or the notion of ‘over-consolidation’ (strengthening of memory traces to such a degree that they become …