PSYC23H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Sleep Deprivation, Epiphenomenon, Memory Consolidation
Document Summary
Week 11: memories getting wired during sleep: studies in invertebrates and mammals have suggested that learning increases the strength of the connections, or synapses, between neurons. Given that skill learning is often enhanced during sleep, one would expect to see concomitant increases in synaptic strength. However, in many studies, sleep actually decreases synaptic strength. This replay of recent experiences during sleep has indeed been observed in several areas of the brain in both rodents and monkeys. Sleep deprivation markedly decreased the number of new spines. This effect also was branch- specific in that sleep deprivation reduced spine formation primarily on the dendritic branch with the higher number of new spines. Importantly, sleep had no effect on the rate of spine elimination. The authors also observed that sleep made newly formed spines much more likely to still be present 1 day later, consistent with the idea that consolidated memories are less sensitive to decay.
