Deep brain stimulation during sleep strengthens memory

The researchers found that targeted deep brain stimulation during a critical time in the sleep cycle improved memory consolidation.

Scientists have found new evidence of how human memory is consolidated during sleep. Photo: NSF

The result came from a novel "closed loop" system that delivered electrical pulses in one brain region that activated the cerebral cortex, synchronized with brain activity recorded in another area, the hippocampus.

According to the dominant theory of how the brain converts new information into long-term memories during sleep, there's an overnight dialogue between the hippocampus — the brain's memory hub — and the cerebral cortex — associated with brain functions like reasoning and planning, perception and long-term memory storage.

The conversation happens during a phase of deep sleep, when brain waves are slow and neurons across brain regions alternate between silence and rapid firing in sync.

U.S. National Science Foundation-supported research led by scientists at UCLA and Tel Aviv University offers new evidence from inside the human brain supporting the dominant theory of how the brain consolidates memory during sleep.

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