REM SLEEP AND MEMORY

描述（申请人摘要）：哺乳动物的行为研究表明 快速眼动睡眠对随后的许多记忆任务的表现很重要。的 认为睡眠（特别是快速眼动睡眠）可以 认知功能一直很受欢迎，因为弗洛伊德说，梦是 “不是废话”，而是整理经验和释放情绪的时间。 其他人则认为REM睡眠是为了遗忘。我们试图确定其 海马体中的神经元是否是一种对某些类型的神经元至关重要的结构， 学习和记忆，在快速眼动睡眠期间随机放电，或者相反，显示 有序的活动差异修改先前的经验。海马 是特别适合这样的调查，因为合奏射击模式， 海马神经元被认为形成认知地图并控制学习 新的里程碑式的关系。当老鼠在实验室里 主动导航他们的环境，揭示特定地点的发射（任何 特定的神经元大多是沉默的，但在特定的时间点强烈放电。 环境中的区域，其位置随小区而变化）。 初步结果表明，经验不仅影响射击速度， 还包括快速眼动睡眠期间的神经活动模式。相位点火 反过来，模式表明了一种机制，通过这种机制，对最近的记忆 在快速眼动睡眠期间，事件可能会加强，熟悉的事件可能会减弱。这 该提案旨在确定小说的生理转折点， 记忆在海马体的临时记忆库中变得熟悉， 在扰乱和增强记忆的条件下测试这些模式 合并。这一努力将有助于记忆的知识基础 从短期到长期的整合机制，这样我们就可以 最终设计有效的方法来提高记忆和学习能力， 受损的个体。

DESCRIPTION (applicant's abstract): Behavioral studies in mammals demonstrate that REM sleep is important to subsequent performance of many memory tasks. The idea that sleep (particularly rapid eye movement, or REM sleep) could serve a cognitive function has remained popular since Freud stated that dreams were "not nonsense" but a time to sort out experiences and discharge emotions. Others have proposed that REM sleep is for forgetting. We seek to determine whether neurons in the hippocampus, a structure critical to certain types of learning and memory, discharge at random during REM sleep or, instead, show ordered activity differentially modified by prior experience. The hippocampus is particularly amenable to such inquiry, since the ensemble-firing pattern of hippocampal neurons is thought to form a cognitive map and control the learning of new landmark relationships. Recordings from individual cells while rats actively navigate their environment reveal place-specific firing (any particular neuron is mostly silent, but discharges robustly at a particular area in the environment, the location of which varies from cell to cell). Preliminary results indicate that experience affects not only the firing rate, but also the pattern of neural activity during REM sleep. The phase-firing pattern, in turn, indicates a mechanism through which memories for recent events may be strengthened and familiar events weakened during REM sleep. This proposal aims to determine the physiological turning point at which novel memories become familiar in the temporary memory store of the hippocampus and test these patterns under conditions that disrupt and enhance memory consolidation. This effort will contribute to the knowledge base of memory consolidation mechanisms from short to long-term stores, so that we may ultimately devise effective ways to improve memory and learning capabilities of impaired individuals.