Should We All Just Take 10? A Meta-Analysis of Wakeful Rest

According to previous research, when people rest quietly for a brief period of time after learning, they have better memory after a delay compared to when they engage in a cognitively-demanding task. This is called the wakeful rest effect. It has been observed with different kinds of study items, interference tasks, and delay intervals involving younger, older, and amnesic participants. Despite the presumed robustness of the effect, many studies have failed to observe significant results, particularly in healthy younger adult populations. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the evidence for the wakeful rest effect and to identify the influence of individual differences. Multiple meta-regression was also conducted. As expected, there were larger effects for patient populations than healthy ones, as well as weaker effects for younger than older adults. The results of this meta-analysis will inform further research on the potential benefits of wakeful rest.