Back

Memory systems integration in sleep complements rapid systems consolidation in wakefulness

Brodt, S.; Schönauer, M.; Seewald, A.; Beck, J.; Erb, M.; Scheffler, K.; Gais, S.

2023-03-10 neuroscience
10.1101/2023.03.09.531360 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Sleep benefits memory performance by fostering systems consolidation, a process that embeds memories into neocortical networks and renders them independent of the hippocampus. Recent evidence shows that memory rehearsal during wakefulness likewise initiates systems consolidation and rapidly engenders neocortical engrams. Here, we investigate the effect of sleep-dependent consolidation for memories that have undergone rapid systems consolidation during wakefulness. After sleep compared to wakefulness, we find better memory retention and higher functional brain activity during memory retrieval in the medial parietal cortex, which hosts memory representations after rehearsal, and in the striatum and thalamus. Increased striatal and thalamic contributions were correlated with higher retrieval performance. Furthermore, all three regions decreased their functional connectivity to the hippocampus specifically after sleep. These findings show that besides continuing of systems consolidation initiated during wakefulness, sleep also acts to integrate different memory systems. Thus, rehearsal-induced and sleep-dependent consolidation seem to be complementary in nature.

Matching journals

The top 5 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.