Time
and time again, many friends and I have been warned of the real costs of
pulling all nighters. But between the hectic schedule of every undergraduate,
lack of sleep, and the mighty need to procrastinate, there never seem to be
enough hours in the day, or night, to finish studying for that neuroscience
final. Contrary to popular student belief however, the subsequent nightly rite
of passage that ends up with one in the library past all hours, could be hurting
one’s grade more than helping it and more importantly, hurting one’s mental
health. In fact, numerous studies have documented that sleep actively supports
the formation of long-term memory representation (Feld & Born, 2017) and
that sleep deprivation harms memory (Havekes et al., 2016).
In
Dr. Iliana Vargas’s recent seminar at Loyola University Chicago, she detailed
an experiment which tested the strength of individual memories and memory
storage after targeted memory reactivation during sleep. Participants were
taught to associate unique object images with locations on a computerized grid
and characteristic sounds before taking a nap. After waking, participants experienced
these paired auditory-visual stimuli once more and asked to match each image
with its associated location. It was found that object placements of objects
cued by their sounds during sleep were more accurate than object placements of
objects that were not auditory cued during sleep. This finding suggested that memory
storage was enhanced via targeted memory reactivation during sleep (Rudoy et
al., 2009).
The
particular stage of sleep in which formation of normal spatial memory takes
place in mice models was studied by Sylvain Williams, a researcher and professor
of psychiatry at McGill University. Optogenetics, which allows for targeted
control of a discrete population of neurons through light, was used to regulate
hippocampal activity (hippocampus: critical in memory formation; ‘GPS’ system
of brain). Mice were trained to spot novel objects in a given area, then put to
sleep such that when mice were in REM sleep, memory-associated neurons were
turned off by light pulses. Mice were unsuccessful in the previously learned
spatial memory task the following day; compared to the control group, their
memory seem impaired/ nonexistent. It was therefore determined, that the REM
sleep (stage in which dreams occur) was critical for normal spatial memory
formation in mice (States News Service, 2017)
Further
research must be done in this area to determine the purpose of REM sleep in
humans and its potential role in memory formation. However, if results obtained
in Williams’ studies can be extrapolated to human, a little dreaming might do
some students some good the night before a final!
Image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J62ZaFNZVu0/maxresdefault.jpg
Feld,
Gordon B., and Jan Born. "Sculpting Memory during Sleep: Concurrent
Consolidation and
Forgetting." Current
Opinion in Neurobiology 44 (2017): 20-27.
Havekes,
Robbert, Alan J. Park, Jennifer C. Tudor, Vincent G. Luczak, Rolf T. Hansen,
Sarah L.
Ferri,
Vibeke M. Bruinenberg, Shane G. Poplawski, Jonathan P. Day, Sara J. Aton, Kasia
Radwańska, Peter Meerlo, Miles D. Houslay,
George S. Baillie, and Ted Abel. "Sleep Deprivation Causes Memory Deficits
by Negatively Impacting Neuronal Connectivity in Hippocampal Area CA1." ELife 5
(2016): n. pag.
"Rapid
Eye Movement Sleep: Keystone of Memory Formation." States News
Service. N.p., 13 May
2016.
Web. 1 May 2017. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-452335220.html?refid=easy_hf
Rudoy, John
D., Joel L. Voss, Carmen E. Westerberg, and Ken A. Paller. "Strengthening
Individual
Memories by Reactivating Them During Sleep." Science 326.5956
(2009): 1079.
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