| Services |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Channels |
| Home & Family |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Leisure |
|
|
|
|
| Technology |
|
|
|
|
|
| Business |
|
|
|
|
| Science |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Site Search  |
|
|
|
|
| Free email |
|
|
|
|
 |
It really is best to sleep on it |
| TheAllINeed.com |
(NC&T/CNRS) These results are published online on the website of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
While asleep, the neurons in our brain are constantly active at levels comparable to those observed while awake. This activity is of vital importance: during sleep, our brain unconsciously rearranges memories in order to stabilize them and ensure long term memory storage.
Researchers at the LPPA (CNRS/Collège de France) and the University of Amsterdam taught rats to find rewards in a maze and then studied the brains of the animals while they were asleep. The scientific team observed that the activity patterns of neurons during sleep resembled those of previous awake periods, while the rats were learning the task. But not all parts of the experience are replayed in the same manner in the brain. The neuron assemblies that were active at the moment of taking a decision and especially those active from the moment of understanding and learning the task were preferentially reactivated during sleep.
This discovery suggests that not all memorized information is consolidated in the same way and that only the most relevant information for behavior is stabilized. This work represents a significant advance in our understanding of memory in the brain and the manner in which it encodes information. This approach is needed to improve our knowledge in cases of age-related neuronal degeneration such as Alzheimer's disease, in which memory is considerably disrupted.
 | | Reactivation during sleep. The electrical activity of the brain has a tendency to oscillate differently depending on the waking or sleeping states. (Photo: ©Peryache et al) |
|
| About the Author |
©TheAllINeed.com All rights reserved
|
 Click here to see related videos
|
|
| Quotes | Ive always wanted to be a scientist. That way, I could get a bunch of grants and do research into whether money can really buy happiness.
Kyannke.
Ive always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific.
Lily Tomlin |
| Writers | | If you are a writer and want to see your article published at Theallineed.com, just click here to submit. |
|
Treasury Announces Sanctions of Mexican Drug Lords
4 ways to watch Internet satellite TV channels for free