Best to sleep on it: Brain activity patterns during sleep consolidate memory

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/uob-bts021916.php

Public Release: 19-Feb-2016
Best to sleep on it: Brain activity patterns during sleep consolidate memory
University of Bristol

Why does sleeping on it help? This is the question tackled by new research at the University of Bristol, which reveals how brain activity during sleep sorts through the huge number of experiences we encounter every day, filing only the important information in memory.

The new discoveries, made by researchers from Bristol's Centre for Synaptic Plasticity, provide further evidence for the benefits of a good night's sleep. This is important because the bad nights of sleep often experienced by both the healthy population, and people with schizophrenia or Alzheimer's disease, lead to impaired mental function.

The findings, published today in the journal Cell Reports, and put into context in an article in Trends in Neuroscience, show that patterns of brain activity that occur during the day are replayed at fast-forward speed during sleep.

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Lead researcher Dr Jack Mellor, from the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, said: 'These findings are about the fundamental processes that occur in the brain during the consolidation of memory during sleep. It also seems that the successful replay of brain activity during sleep is dependent on the emotional state of the person when they are learning. This has major implications for how we teach and enable people to learn effectively.'

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