RUI: Mechanisms of Memory Consolidation in Offline Wakefulness

为什么我们记住了一些事情，却忘记了另一些呢？新的记忆是脆弱的，必须加强和重组才能持久。众所周知，在睡眠中，一天结束时记忆力会增强。然而，这种记忆强化过程的早期阶段，也就是我们日常生活中放松和休息的几秒钟时间，可能会非常迅速地发生。这个项目精确地研究了这些清醒的区外时段是如何提高记忆力的。当我们在学习后睡觉时，新的记忆在大脑中被反复激活，随着时间的推移逐渐加强记忆痕迹。该项目的研究测试了记忆重新激活和强化的相同过程是否解释了短暂的区间期如何能够在清醒时改善记忆。通过使用脑电(EEG)，一种非侵入性的大脑成像技术，结合测量瞳孔大小、思维和行为，可以测量这一过程。该项目有两个主要目标：首先，该项目调查在长达几秒钟的清醒休息期间，记忆是否被重新激活和加强，其方式与它们在睡眠中重新激活和巩固的方式类似。其次，该项目的研究探索了清醒休息时的记忆巩固如何与睡眠协同工作，以改善记忆。该项目旨在测试休息和睡眠顺序作用的工作假说，需要睡眠来完全巩固和加强在清醒时发生的最初记忆提升。这项研究希望加深我们对记忆的理解和增强记忆的方法。除了其科学目标外，该项目还通过为高中生和本科生，包括代表人数不足的少数群体成员提供影响较大的研究培训，加强科学和STEM培训。该项目由认知神经科学计划和已建立的激励竞争性研究计划(EPSCoR)共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Why do we remember some things, but forget others? New memories are fragile, and have to be strengthened and reorganized in order to last. It is known that memories are strengthened at the end of the day during sleep. However, the early stages of this process of memory strengthening, called “consolidation”, might happen very quickly, during seconds-long periods when we zone out, relax and rest during our daily lives. This project investigates precisely how these waking zone-out periods are able to improve memory. When we sleep after learning, new memories are repeatedly reactivated in the brain, incrementally strengthening memory traces over time. The research in this project tests whether this same process of memory reactivation and strengthening explains how short zone-out periods are able to improve memory during wakefulness. It is possible to measure this process by using EEG (electroencephalography), a non-invasive brain imaging technique, combined with measures of pupil size, thought and behavior. The project has two main goals: first, the project investigates whether memories are reactivated and strengthened during seconds-long periods of waking rest, in a similar way in which they are reactivated and consolidated during sleep. Second, the research in this project explores how memory consolidation during waking rest works together synergistically with sleep to improve memory. This project aims to test the working hypothesis that rest and sleep act in sequence, with sleep being required to fully consolidate and strengthen an initial memory boost that happens during wakefulness. This research hopes to deepen our understanding of memory and ways to enhance it. Beyond its scientific goals, this project also strengthens science and STEM training by providing high-impact research training for high school students and undergraduates, including members of underrepresented minority groups. This project is jointly funded by the Cognitive Neuroscience Program, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.