Memory transfer – The daily blog of behavioral and cognitive economics

Boosting Sleep Ripples Helps Preserve Memories Normally Forgotten

A new study shows that precisely manipulating brain activity during sleep can help mice retain memories that would normally fade, offering a potential pathway for treating memory loss conditions. Researchers identified a specific sleep-related pattern—large sharp-wave ripples—that signals when new experiences are being transferred from the hippocampus to the neocortex for long-term storage. By boosting these ripples at just the right moment using optogenetics, scientists enabled mice to remember brief encounters they would typically forget. Even mice engineered with cognitive impairments displayed restored memory consolidation. Because sleep-dependent memory mechanisms are highly conserved across mammals, the findings may open new doors for addressing memory decline in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. ….[READ]