H2020Индивидуална стипендия2022–2024

MemOpt · Optimising memory: Understanding the role of sleep in selective memory strengthening

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2022-06-01 → 2024-05-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 224 934 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Механизмите на съня се изследват, за да се разбере как мозъкът избира кои важни спомени да засили и кои излишни да изтрие. Това помага за откриването на нови начини за терапия при депресия, ПТСР и болест на Алцхаймер.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Optimising memory: Understanding the role of sleep in selective memory strengthening

An essential function of the brain is to selectively retain important information. Being able to select which information to remember and what to forget allows for flexible updating of behavioural goals. By operating in an adaptive fashion, the brain is able to prioritise in memory the most important and relevant aspects of our experience and filtering out unnecessary and redundant information. For memories to be successfully retrieved over long periods of time, they need to undergo a period of consolidation, whereby memories are strengthened and integrated into long-term storage. Sleep plays a critical role in this strengthening process, and there is evidence that memory strengthening during sleep is selective, based on ‘tags’ set during initial encoding. The overarching goal of this project was to understand the mechanisms that govern memory prioritisation and selective remembering during sleep. This is an important question to address, because maladaptive memory biases and co-occurring sleep problems are present in multiple mental health conditions including major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well in memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Hence, understanding the mechanisms of selective memory processing is crucial for identifying novel therapeutic targets with potentially wide-ranging benefits. The overall objectives of this project were as follows: 1) Identify a neural tagging mechanism that selects particular memories for strengthening during periods of sleep; 2) Discover how memories are reprocessed during sleep to selectively strengthen high priority mechanisms, and; 3) Assess the impact of selective memory processing during sleep on memory representations. Through the experiments performed, the project uncovered neural oscillations involved in the selection of certain memories for memory consolidation during sleep, supporting the conclusion that there are selection mechanisms in the brain that govern the “fate” of memories across periods of sleep-related consolidation.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

An adaptive feature of the brain is to select which information to retain in long-term memory, and which information should be forgotten. To be retained long-term, memories need to undergo a period of consolidation. Sleep has been shown to play an important role in these consolidation processes. This proposal will advance our understanding of long-term memory, by demonstrating how the three core processes of memory formation: encoding, consolidation, and retrieval, interact to selectively promote certain memories. This aim shall be achieved through a series of experiments utilising advanced electroencephalography techniques and state-of-the-art ‘targeted memory reactivation’. Experiment one will investigate when memories are initially formed (encoding), how does the brain select a subset to undergo subsequent consolidation. Experiment two will then determine how sleep facilitates the consolidation of those selected memories, selectively strengthening them to enhance post-sleep memory retrieval. Finally, Experiment three will attempt to manipulate selection processes, to ask whether external methods can alter the fate of specific memories after initial selection to be remembered or forgotten. The proposed project is a perfect fit to the work program of the fellowship. I will develop critical new skills, which will enhance my potential as an independent scientist. This fellowship will place me at a world leading European institute, and as such will facilitate my return to the European research community. This will in turn enable my long-term career goal of leading my own research group at a European research institute.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

UNIVERSITY OF YORK · YORK NORTH YORKSHIREКоординаторОбединеното кралство