The neuroscientist’s research includes memory reactivation during sleep and the role of sensory input in enhancing cognition.

Summary: The Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) announced Ken Paller, PhD, as the recipient of the 2025 George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience in recognition of his research on memory, sleep, and cognition. Paller’s work investigates how memory reactivation during sleep integrates new information into neural networks, enhancing problem-solving and mental health. He has challenged longstanding assumptions about sensory input during sleep and demonstrated the effectiveness of auditory stimulation to reactivate memories during sleep. At the CNS 2025 conference, Paller’s discussions will include new research directions in sleep engineering and lucid dreaming.

Key Takeaways:

Award-Winning Sleep Research: Ken Paller’s work focuses on how memory reactivation during sleep enhances cognitive processes such as problem-solving and mental health.
Sensory Input During Sleep: Paller’s studies demonstrated that low-intensity auditory stimulation can influence memory processing during sleep, reshaping previous beliefs about sensory input being blocked.
Future Directions: Paller’s research explores sleep engineering techniques, including wearable technology and interventions to fine-tune sleep physiology, to amplify sleep’s cognitive benefits.

The Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) has named Ken Paller, PhD, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, the 2025 recipient of its Annual George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience.

Paller’s research has evolved from traditional memory studies to an interdisciplinary focus on memory, sleep, and dreams, according to CNS. At the upcoming CNS 2025 Annual Meeting in Boston, he will discuss the progression of his work and highlight new research directions in sleep engineering and lucid dreaming.

His research investigates how memory reactivation during sleep integrates new information into existing networks, enhancing problem-solving and mental health. In an interview with CNS, Paller highlights that advances in wearable technology and interventions to fine-tune sleep physiology could help individuals better harness the cognitive benefits of sleep.

During his award talk at CNS 2025, Paller will delve into how pre-sleep tasks and sensory stimulation during sleep can enhance cognition. His use of low-intensity auditory stimulation to reactivate memories without disturbing sleep has challenged the previously held assumption that sensory input is blocked during sleep.

Before 2009, it was believed that sensory input was blocked during sleep, except for smell, Paller explained to CNS. Paller’s 2009 study, however, demonstrated that low-intensity sounds could be processed by the sleeping brain, reshaping our understanding of how sleep supports memory and cognition. His talk will also explore the implications of these findings for cognitive enhancement and therapeutic strategies.

The George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience was established in 1995 by CNS to honor the scholarship of George A. Miller, whose theoretical advances influenced the discipline of cognitive neuroscience.