Reactivating memories in the sleeping brain

Context

Sleep helps us to lay down memories of the past. Contemporary models of sleep-associated memory processing posit that newly formed memories are reactivated in the sleeping brain, prompting their integration into long-term storage. Memory reactivations predominate during the deepest stage of sleep, known as slow-wave sleep, and are driven by the neural oscillations that characterise this sleep stage: slow oscillations and spindles.

The research

We use memory cueing techniques to stimulate reactivation during slow-wave sleep, and thus selectively strengthen certain memories over others. Using time-frequency analysis, we investigate changes in the Electroencephalography (EEG) signal that accompanies reactivation events, focusing on sleep spindles and slow oscillations. Moreover, with multivariate pattern analysis, we determine whether the informational content of reactivated memories can be decoded from the EEG data.

Featured publications

• Memory consolidation is linked to spindle-mediated information processing during sleep
• Mechanisms of memory retrieval in slow-wave sleep
• The benefits of targeted memory reactivation for consolidation in sleep are contingent on memory accuracy and direct cue-memory associations