Quality of Sleep Determines Where the Brain Stores Memories

User rating: 4.5 / 5 after 82 vote(s)

Brain fMRI after six months of a subject who was allowed to sleep the night after learning the word pairs. Correct word recall activates the mPFC and the occipital cortex but there is no longer significant activity in the hippocampus. Image credit: S ...
Brain fMRI after six months of a subject who was allowed to sleep the night after learning the word pairs. Correct word recall activates the mPFC and the occipital cortex, but there is no longer significant activity in the hippocampus. Image credit: Steffen Gais, et al. ©2007 PNAS.

As time passes, our memories are transferred to different parts of the brain in order to ideally store our past experiences. While scientists have known that sleep plays an important role in helping consolidate memories, a new study investigates the role of sleep a step further, and shows how one night of sleep can lead to changes in brain activity six months after an event has occurred.


Full story »
All News summaries from Medicine & Health news
All News summaries for December 13, 2007
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive