Implicit visuospatial sequence representations are accessible in both the practice and the transfer hand.

A serial reaction time task was used to test whether the representations of a probabilistic second-order sequence structure are (i) stored in an effector-dependent, effector-independent intrinsic or effector-independent visuospatial code and (ii) are inter-manually accessible. Participants were trained either with the dominant or non-dominant hand. Tests were performed with both hands in the practice sequence, a random sequence, and a mirror sequence. Learning did not differ significantly between left and right-hand practice, suggesting symmetric intermanual transfer from the dominant to the non-dominant hand and vice versa. In the posttest, RTs were shorter for the practice sequence than for the random sequence, and longest for the mirror sequence. Participants were unable to freely generate or recognize the practice sequence, indicating implicit knowledge of the probabilistic sequence structure. Because sequence-specific learning did not differ significantly between hands, we conclude that representations of the probabilistic sequence structure are stored in an effector-independent visuospatial code.

Factors modulating the effects of waking rest on memory.

Study results indicate that moments of unoccupied rest immediately after learning serve an essential cognitive function: memory consolidation. However, there also are findings suggesting that waking rest after learning has similar effects on delayed memory performance as an active wake condition, where participants work on a cognitive distractor task. Based on these studies, we highlight several potentially modulating factors of the so-called resting effect.

The role of immediate versus secondary removal of the odontogenic focus in treatment of deep head and neck space infections. A retrospective analysis of 248 patients.

OBJECTIVES: Aim of this study was to investigate conditions and predisposing factors for head and neck infection progress regarding the length of stay (LOS) in hospital, with special emphasis on the time of removal of the odontogenic infection focus. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A 3-year retrospective study reviewed hospital records of 248 subjects who were treated under inpatient conditions with severe odontogenic infections who received surgical incisions, drainage, and intravenous (IV) antibiotics. Outcomes measured included age, gender, involved fascial spaces, LOS, number of infected spaces, antibiotics administered, and comorbidities. We precisely recorded the time between abscess incision and focus extraction. RESULTS: Removal of infection focus (tooth) in the same stay (1 stay, n = 106; group 1; mean 6.5 days ± 3) showed significantly higher (p = 0.042) LOS than extraction in a second stay (2 stays, n = 46; group 2; 5.3 ± 3.1). Group 3 patients showed infection after removal of teeth in outpatient management (1 stay ex-op, n = 96) and presented significantly lower LOS (5.6 ± 2.5) compared to group 1 (p = 0.0216). LOS of group 3 to group 2 patients showed no significance (p = 0.668). Infection expansion and diabetes showed a significant increase of LOS. CONCLUSION: Simultaneous removal of infection focus and abscess incision leads to the lowest LOS. If tooth extraction is performed after incision, subsequent focus extraction performed in a second stay shows lower overall-LOS than extraction at the same stay at later stage. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Multiple factors tend to increase the LOS of patients with severe head and neck infections of odontogenic origin. Our data reveals the role of removal of odontogenic focus and additionally ranks further parameters that influence the LOS. Based on our findings, decisions regarding the surgical treatment can be recommended.

Postoperative Medical Complications and Intermediate Care Unit/Intensive Care Unit Admission in Joint Replacement Surgery: A Prospective Risk Model.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative complications are the main consumers of technical, medical, and human resources. Especially in the field of elective joint replacement surgery, a specialized, easy-to-obtain, and cost-efficient preoperative stratification and risk-estimation model is missing. METHODS: With preoperatively surveyed patient parameters, we identified the most relevant parameters to predict postoperative medical complications. We devised a prospective risk model, measuring the individual probability for intermediate care unit (IMC) or intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The study includes all patients (n = 649) treated with primary or revision total knee arthroplasty in our clinic from 2008 to 2012. RESULTS: The association between general comorbidity scores and mortality risk is well known. Among different comorbidity scores, the Charlson Comorbidity Index is not only relevant for overall postoperative complications (odds ratios [OR] = 2.20) but also predictive of specific complications such as the postoperative need for blood transfusion (OR = 1.94) and unexpected adverse events (OR = 1.74). Considering adverse events, c-reactive protein and leukocyte levels are also highly relevant. Upon predicting a necessary postoperative transfer to an IMC or ICU, the preoperative hemoglobin level, the Charlson Comorbidity Index, and the Index of Coexistent Disease stood out. The latter indicates an increased rate for an IMC/ICU stay by 341% per point. Condensing the most influential predictors, the probability for postoperative IMC/ICU transfer can be calculated for each individual patient. Using the routinely assessed patient's variables, no steadier prediction is possible. CONCLUSION: The introduced risk-estimation model offers a specialized preoperative resource-stratification method in knee joint replacement surgery. It condenses the most influential, individual risk factors to avoid clinical test redundancy and improve resource efficiency and presurgical care planning. A prospective follow-up study could help validating the risk model in clinical routine.

Wakeful resting and memory retention: a study with healthy older and younger adults.

Studies indicate that a brief period of wakeful rest after learning supports memory retention, whereas distraction weakens it. It is open for investigation whether advanced age has a significant effect on the impact of post-learning wakeful rest on memory retention for verbal information when compared to a cognitively demanding distraction task. In this study, we examined (1) whether post-learning rest promotes verbal memory retention in younger and older adults and (2) whether the magnitude of the rest benefit changes with increasing age. Younger adults and older adults learned and immediately recalled two consecutive word lists. After one word list, participants rested wakefully for 8 min; after the other list, they solved matrices. Memory performance was again tested in a surprise free recall test at the end of the experimental session. We found that, overall, younger adults outperformed older adults. Also, memory retention was higher following a wakeful rest phase compared to distraction. A detailed analysis revealed that this wakeful rest benefit was significant for the older adults group, whereas the younger adults group retained a similar amount of information in both post-encoding conditions. We assume that older adults can profit more from a wakeful rest phase after learning and are more prone to distraction than younger adults. With increasing age, a short break immediately after information uptake may help better retain the previously learned information, while distraction after learning tends to weaken memory retention.

Mandibular kinematics and maximum voluntary bite force following segmental resection of the mandible without or with reconstruction.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose was to analyze mandibular kinematics and maximum voluntary bite force in patients following segmental resection of the mandible without and with reconstruction (autologous bone, alloplastic total temporomandibular joint replacement (TMJ TJR)). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Subjects operated from April 2002 to August 2014 were enrolled in the study. Condylar (CRoM) and incisal (InRoM) range of motion and deflection during opening, condylar retrusion, incisal lateral excursion, mandibular rotation angle during opening, and maximum voluntary bite force were determined on the non-affected site and compared between groups. Influence of co-factors (defect size, soft tissue deficit, neck dissection, radiotherapy, occlusal contact zones (OCZ), and time) was determined. RESULTS: Twelve non-reconstructed and 26 reconstructed patients (13 autologous, 13 TMJ TJR) were included in the study. InRoM opening and bite force were significantly higher (P ≤ .024), and both condylar and incisal deflection during opening significantly lower (P ≤ .027) in reconstructed patients compared with non-reconstructed. Differences between the autologous and the TMJ TJR group were statistically not significant. Co-factors defect size, soft tissue deficit, and neck dissection had the greatest impact on kinematics and number of OCZs on bite force. CONCLUSIONS: Reconstructed patients (both autologous and TMJ TJR) have better overall function than non-reconstructed patients. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Reconstruction of segmental mandibular resection has positive effects on mandibular function. TMJ TJR seems to be a suitable technique for the reconstruction of mandibular defects including the TMJ complex.

Benefits of a hungry mind: When hungry, exposure to food facilitates proactive interference resolution.

Hunger is an everyday motivational state, which biases cognition to detect food. Although evidence exists on how hunger affects basic attentional and mnemonic processes, less is known about how motivational drive for food modulates higher cognition. We aimed to investigate the effects of food deprivation on proactive interference resolution, in the presence and absence of food. Normal-weight participants performed a recency probes paradigm providing an experimental block with food and object stimuli as well as a control block with object stimuli only, in a fasted and a sated state. Results showed that the interaction of shifts in nutritional state with the perception of food cues evoked an altered resolution of proactive interference. Satiety led to impaired performance, whereas a hungry state resulted in strengthened resistance to proactive interference and lying in between, the control block presenting neutral objects remained unaffected by nutritional state manipulation. Additionally, a further increase in proactive interference resolution occurred when the conflicting probe depicted food compared to non-food objects. We conclude that when exposed to food, hunger initiates biased competition of active memory representations in favor of prioritized source information at cost of familiar, but irrelevant information. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of an arousal-biased competition in working memory.

Eagle Syndrome: a Follow-Up Examination of Four Patients After Surgical Treatment Via Cervical Approach.

OBJECTIVE: Eagle syndrome is a rare pain syndrome caused by an elongated styloid apophysis or an ossified styloid ligament. It is characterized by a complex range of symptoms in head and neck region. The most effective treatment is surgical shortening of the styloid apophysis. The authors report of a follow-up examination of 4 patients after surgical treatment via cervical approach. METHODS: Retrospectively reviewed hospital records of 5 patients (4 females and 1 male), aged from 26 to 59 years old (mean age = 45.5 years) who underwent surgical shortening of the styloid process via cervical approach. Further, a paper-based survey of 4 patients was conducted, including a clinical questionnaire and 4 visual analogue scales, consisting of questions regarding postoperative pain. RESULTS: Period of follow-up ranged from 16 to 79 months (mean 53.75 months). All patients were asymptomatic at follow-up. None of the patients reported a visible scar or hypoesthesia in the affected area. The patients demonstrated low mean visual analogue scales for each item (facial pain: 0.6 ±â€Š1.2, foreign body sensation: 0.725 ±â€Š1.45, pain of throat and neck 1.35 ±â€Š1.58 and limitation of dietary habits: 0.75 ±â€Š1.5). None of the patients reported a resurgence of pain in the head and neck region so far. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical treatment via cervical approach appears to be an effective and safe option with low morbidity and mortality in the treatment of symptomatic Eagle syndrome of adults.

Cellular Distribution and Gene Expression Pattern of Metastasin (S100A4), Calgranulin A (S100A8), and Calgranulin B (S100A9) in Oral Lesions as Markers for Molecular Pathology.

The objective of this study was to analyze cellular localization and expression levels of oncologic relevant members of the S100 family in common oral lesions.Biopsies of various oral lesions were analyzed. S100A4 showed a higher expression rate in leukoplakias and oral squamous cell carcinomas. Transcript levels of S100A8 and S100A9 were significantly decreased in malignant OSCCs. A correlation could be drawn between the expression levels of these genes and the pathological characteristics of the investigated lesions. S100A4, A8, and A9 proteins represent promising marker genes to evaluate the risk potential of suspicious oral lesions in molecular pathology.

Further evidence for deletions in 7p14.1 contributing to nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate.

BACKGROUND: Nonsyndromic cleft with or without cleft palate (nsCL/P) is a common birth defect. Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous risk variants, a considerable fraction of the genetic heritability remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to replicate a previous finding that de novo deletions in a 62 kb region of chromosome 7p14 are a risk factor for nsCL/P, using an independent cohort. METHODS: Data from a published case-control GWAS cohort of 399 patients and 1318 controls were used. Copy number variant (CNV) detection in the 62 kb candidate region of 7p14 was performed using QuantiSNP. Putative CNVs in probands were verified and validated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Segregation analyses were performed in family members for whom DNA was available. RESULTS: Within the 62 kb candidate region, a deletion of 7.4 kb showed association with nsCL/P (13/387 cases, 20/1300 controls, plowest = 0.024, odds ratio = 2.22). In all families with a sporadic case (n = 3), the deletion occurred de novo. In multiplex families, both incomplete segregation and incomplete penetrance were observed. CONCLUSION: The present data support the hypothesis that deletions at 7p14 are a common risk factor for nsCL/P. Genome-wide CNV analyses in nsCL/P cohorts are warranted to explore the functional relevance of these deletions and their contribution to nsCL/P, and to determine exact breakpoints. Birth Defects Research (Part A) 106:767-772, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Freehand Condyle-Positioning During Orthognathic Surgery: Postoperative Cone-Beam Computed Tomography Shows Only Minor Morphometric Alterations of the Temporomandibular Joint Position.

OBJECTIVES: Purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) position after bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO) of the mandible by the help of pre- and postoperative cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A collective of n = 78 patients was investigated between 2009 and 2011 before and after BSSO of the mandible in mono- or bimaxillary orthognathic surgery procedures. No intraoperative fixation of the condyles was administered. CBCT scans were performed in all patients before and immediately after surgery with the KaVo 3DeXam device in the position of terminal occlusion. Subsequently, all scans were analyzed by help of the eXam Vision program and the ImageJ image processing software. Alterations of the TMJs were quantified by determining pre- to postoperative differences of the intercondylar distance, the mandibular angle on both sides, and the condylar angles in the transversal plane. RESULTS: The difference between pre- and postoperatively ascertained values was minimal (means: lateral condylar distance -0.17  mm; distance of condylar centers -0.32  mm; medial condylar distance -0.49  mm; left mandibular angle +1.06°; right mandibular angle +2.06°; condylar angles in relation to a reference line: left -2.93, right -0.75; angle of cutting +3.42). There is no apparent tendency toward a positional change in any of the 3 examined planes. Between bi- and monomaxillarily operated patients there was no difference either, except for the osteotomy plane. CONCLUSIONS: A 3-dimensional analysis of CBCT data of the TMJ seems to be appropriate to determine the condylar position pre- and postoperatively. Performed by an experienced orthognathic surgeon, BSSO of the mandible does not effectuate any relevant changes of the TMJ-position, thus making an intraoperative condyle-fixation unnecessary.

The Tumor Risk Score (TRS) - next level risk prediction in head and neck tumor surgery.

PURPOSE: Head and neck cancer surgery often requires postoperative monitoring in an intensive care unit (ICU) or intermediate care unit (IMC). With a variety of different risk scores, it is incumbent upon the investigator to plan a risk-adapted allocation of resources. Tumor surgery in the head and neck region itself offers a wide range of procedures in terms of resection extent and reconstruction methods, which can be stratified only vaguely by a cross-disciplinary score. Facing a variety of different risk scores we aimed to develop a new Tumor Risk Score (TRS) enabling anterograde preoperative risk evaluation, resource allocation and optimization of cost and outcome measurements in tumor surgery of the head and neck. METHODS: A collective of 547 patients (2010-2021) with intraoral tumors was studied to develop the TRS by grading the preoperative tumor size and location as well as the invasiveness of the planned surgery by means of statistical modeling. Two postoperative complications were defined: (1) prolonged postoperative stay in IMC/ICU and (2) prolonged total length of stay (LOS). Each parameter was analyzed using TRS and all preoperative patient parameters (age, sex, preoperative hemoglobin, body-mass-index, preexisting medical conditions) using predictive modeling design. Established risk scores (Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), American Society of Anesthesiologists risk classification (ASA), Functional Comorbidity Index (FCI)) and Patient Clinical Complexity Level (PCCL) were used as benchmarks for model performance of the TRS. RESULTS: The TRS is significantly correlated with surgery duration (p < 0.001) and LOS (p = 0.001). With every increase in TRS, LOS rises by 9.3% (95%CI 4.7-13.9; p < 0.001) or 1.9 days (95%CI 1.0-2.8; p < 0.001), respectively. For each increase in TRS, the LOS in IMC/ICU wards increases by 0.33 days (95%CI 0.12-0.54; p = 0.002), and the probability of an overall prolonged IMC/ICU stay increased by 32.3% per TRS class (p < 0.001). Exceeding the planned IMC/ICU LOS, overall LOS increased by 7.7 days (95%CI 5.35-10.08; p < 0.001) and increases the likelihood of also exceeding the upper limit LOS by 70.1% (95%CI 1.02-2.85; p = 0.041). In terms of predictive power of a prolonged IMC/ICU stay, the TRS performs better than previously established risk scores such as ASA or CCI (p = 0.031). CONCLUSION: The lack of a standardized needs assessment can lead to both under- and overutilization of the IMC/ICU and therefore increased costs and losses in total revenue. Our index helps to stratify the risk of a prolonged IMC/ICU stay preoperatively and to adjust resource allocation in major head and neck tumor surgery.

Task-synchronized eye blink modulation neither requires visual stimulation nor active motor response and is modulated by task predictability.

It has been repeatedly shown that temporal task features are reflected in eye blink dynamics during attention tasks. Eye blinks occur with increased likeliness particularly when demands on external attention allocation are low. Both predictive, top-down and reactive, bottom-up processes were shown to be involved in blink regulation. However, whether temporal stimulus prediction is a generally active component of the attention system or rather specific to the visual domain has not been fully elaborated yet. By monitoring eye blinking of 99 students during an auditory attention task and analyzing particularly the dynamics of eye blink onsets relative to stimuli timings, we show here that prediction does, in principle, not require visual stimulation, and is also not merely a consequence of the involvement of manual responses during the task. We further show that both the inclusion of manual response to stimuli and elevated task predictability enhance the prediction component reflected in eye blink dynamics, whereas for the latter we experimentally manipulate objective task predictability by adjusting the frequency dependence of the power spectral densities of the series of inter-stimulus time intervals. This allows us finally to explain why, for specific choices of experimental conditions, the generally active and present prediction component involved in attention can become difficult to detect in non-visual, auditory tasks. Conversely, this comes with the important implication that, if tasks aim for elaborating particularly temporal prediction, distributing stimuli over time such that inter-stimulus-intervals conform to a sample of Gaussian noise represents a specifically unfavorable choice.

Individual differences in sensory processing sensitivity amplify effects of post-learning activity for better and for worse.

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is a biologically-based trait associated with greater reactivity to both positive and negative environments. Recent studies suggest that the activity following learning can support or hinder memory retention. Here, we employed a within-subject experiment to examine whether and how individual differences in SPS contribute to differences in memory retention. Sixty-four participants encoded and immediately recalled two word lists: one followed by 8-min of eyes-closed, wakeful resting; and the other by a distraction task. After 7 days, participants completed a surprise free recall test for both word lists. If participants wakefully rested after encoding, memory retention increased as a function of higher SPS. However, in the distraction condition, a negative curvilinear relationship indicated that memory retention was especially hindered for highly sensitive individuals. These results suggest that individual differences in SPS are an important factor to consider when examining the effects of environmental conditions on learning and memory.

Patterns of eye blinks are modulated by auditory input in humans.

Previous studies could elaborate a link between attentional processes and eye blinking in both visual and auditory attention tasks. Here we show that this link is active at a fundamental level of perception: presentation of a series of bare sine tones is sufficient to induce a modulation of temporal blink patterns, allowing to determine which series was presented to participants even when they are not required to interactively engage in processing the auditory input. In particular, we monitored eye blinking during an auditory attention task using two series of sine tones, differing in the predictability of the timing of tone onsets. Whereas inter-onset intervals in one tone series corresponded to uncorrelated samples from a normal distribution, they were distributed according to a Gaussian random walk in the other tone series. We find that blink patterns are dynamically modulated by both purely auditory inputs. The magnitude, form, and coherence of the temporal associations between tone onsets and blink events depend strongly on the requirement to respond to the presented stimuli. The predictability of the tone series appears to modulate pre-stimulus blink inhibition given that a response is required. Altogether, these findings suggest eye blink as a readily available, non-invasive behavioral marker for context-sensitive, moment-to-moment allocation of attention.

Wakeful resting and listening to music contrast their effects on verbal long-term memory in dependence on word concreteness.

Wakeful resting and listening to music are powerful means to modulate memory. How these activities affect memory when directly compared has not been tested so far. In two experiments, participants encoded and immediately recalled two word lists followed by either 6 min wakefully resting or 6 min listening to music. The results of Experiment 1 show that both post-encoding conditions have a similar effect on memory after 1 day. In Experiment 2, we explored the possibility that less concrete words, i.e. lower in imageability than in Experiment 1, are differently affected by the two post-encoding conditions. The results of Experiment 2 show that, when words are less concrete, more words are retained after 1 day when encoding is followed by wakeful resting rather than listening to music. These findings indicate that the effects of wakeful resting and listening to music on memory consolidation are moderated by the concreteness of the encoded material.

Human beta-defensin-1, -2, and -3 exhibit opposite effects on oral squamous cell carcinoma cell proliferation.

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of human beta-defensins (hBDs) on oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) proliferation and hBD expression in vitro. BHY-OSCC cell lines were stimulated with hBD-1, -2, and -3. Proliferation of BHY cells was ascertained and hBD-mRNA expression was evaluated by real-time PCR. Proliferation of BHY cells decreased by 25% in response to hBD-1 stimulation but increased after stimulation with hBD-2 and -3. HBD-1 stimulation enhanced hBD-3 expression, whereas HBD-2 stimulation decreased early hBD-3 expression. HBD-3 stimulation enhanced hBD-1 expression. HBDs profoundly impact on OSCC proliferation and hBD expression in vitro. Therefore, hBD-1 might function as a tumor suppressor gene in OSCCs, while hBD-2 and -3 might be protooncogenes.

High α-defensin and S100A7 expression and missing DOC-1 down-regulation characterize irritation fibromas of the oral cavity and may counteract malignant transformation.

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to analyze the gene expression pattern of antimicrobial peptides, tumor suppressors, growth factors, matrix metalloproteases, and inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in oral irritation fibromas and to identify genes with protective effects against malignant transformation in benign proliferating tumors of the oral mucosa. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Biopsies of irritation fibromas (n = 15) and healthy gingiva (n = 15) were obtained during routine surgical procedures. RNA was extracted according to standard protocols, and transcription levels of CCL20, DEFA 1/3, DEFA 4, S100A7, DOC-1, interleukin (IL) 1ß, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor α, Cox-2, matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1), MMP-2, MMP-3, MMP-8, MMP-9, transforming growth factor ß1, transforming growth factor α, and keratinocyte growth factor were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. In addition, immunostaining was performed to visualize the transcription products of the genes of interest in fibroma tissue as well as in healthy gingiva. RESULTS: The gene expression of S100A7 was 11.3-fold and that of DEFA 1/3 was 14-fold higher in irritation fibromas than in healthy gingiva, whereas the expression of MMP-3 and of inflammation markers IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, tumor necrosis factor α, and Cox-2 was reduced. Profound down-regulation of DOC-1 gene expression, characteristic for proliferating malignant tumors of the oral cavity, was in irritation fibromas not verifiable. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in the expression pattern of S100A7, DEFA 1/3, and MMP-3 seem to be involved in the development of irritation fibromas, whereas chronic inflammation might be of less importance. Overexpression of S100A7, but missing down-regulation of the tumor-suppressor gene DOC-1, might exert protective effects and counteract malignant transformation of benign, proliferating lesions of the oral cavity.

Eye movements during mental rotation of nonmirrored and mirrored three-dimensional abstract objects.

Eye movements were recorded while participants (N = 56) rotated mirrored and nonmirrored abstract, three-dimensional object pairs into different orientations to assess whether there were oculomotoric differences in fixation switches between mirrored and nonmirrored objects and how an object's plane and depth angle affected visual processing. Compared to other studies, especially depth rotation tasks were responsible for a difference in the sum of fixation switches. This difference seemed to be caused by an increase in incongruent fixation switches, while congruent ones remained stable. Theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed.

Individual differences in working memory capacity moderate effects of post-learning activity on memory consolidation over the long term.

Similar to sleeping after learning, a brief period of wakeful resting after encoding new information supports memory retention in contrast to task-related cognition. Recent evidence suggests that working memory capacity (WMC) is related to sleep-dependent declarative memory consolidation. We tested whether WMC moderates the effect of a brief period of wakeful resting compared to performing a distractor task subsequent to encoding a word list. Participants encoded and immediately recalled a word list followed by either an 8 min wakeful resting period (eyes closed, relaxed) or by performing an adapted version of the d2 test of attention for 8 min. At the end of the experimental session (after 12-24 min) and again, after 7 days, participants were required to complete a surprise free recall test of both word lists. Our results show that interindividual differences in WMC are a central moderating factor for the effect of post-learning activity on memory retention. The difference in word retention between a brief period of wakeful resting versus performing a selective attention task subsequent to encoding increased in higher WMC individuals over a retention interval of 12-24 min, as well as over 7 days. This effect was reversed in lower WMC individuals. Our results extend findings showing that WMC seems not only to moderate sleep-related but also wakeful resting-related memory consolidation.