#sleeping brain

Key to Learning and Forgetting Identified in Sleeping Brain

Distinct patterns of electrical activity in the sleeping brain may influence whether we remember or forget what we learned the previous day, according to a new study by UC San Francisco researchers. The scientists were able to influence how well rats learned a new skill by tweaking these brainwaves while animals slept, suggesting potential future applications in boosting human memory or…

The brain orchestrates the daily sleep-wake cycle by responding to external cues, such as sunlight, and the body’s own rhythms. Levels of chemical messengers, hormones and proteins rise and fall in key parts of the brain to generate wakefulness and sleepiness. Tracking brain activity during sleep, scientists have also revealed regions important for other putative functions of sleep, such as memory storage and information processing. Credit: Illustration by charles floyd