Walker, Chapter 6 (106-132)

• sleep helps with memory
• sleep before learning refreshes our ability to initially make new memories   * hippocampus stores fact-based knowledge and has a limited storage capacity   * sleep restores the brain’s capacity for learning by making room for new memories     * stage 2 nrem sleep     * sleep spindles: short, powerful bursts of electrical activity       * the more obtained during the nap, the greater the restoration of their learning     * shifts fact-based memories from hippocampus to the long-term storage in the cortex     * people 60-80 yrs old generate less sleep spindles, which reduces their learning capacity     * concentration of nrem sleep spindles is greatest in the late morning hours, sandwiched between long periods of rem sleep
• sleep the night after learning   * consolidation: protecting newly acquired info from forgetting, aided by sleep   * early-night sleep (deep nrem) provides superior memory retention savings   * can also help regain access to memories
• boosting the memory benefits of sleep   * sleep stimulation: inserting small amounts of electrical voltage. useful during nrem sleep   * targeted memory reactivation using sound cues   * auditory stimulation in stride with individual slow waves   * slow rocking increases depth of deep sleep
• sleep to forget   * sleep helps retain everything you need and nothing you don’t   * actively avoids strengthening memories made to be forgotten   * uses nrem sleep and sleep spindles     * activity circles between hippocampus (memory storage site) and frontal lobe (intentionality)
• sleep for other types of memory   * brain will continue to improve skill memories in the absence of any further practice   * skill actions become institutional habits     * sleep helped the brain automate movement routines     * stage 2 nrem in last 2 hrs of an 8 hr sleep       * increase in spindles above motor cortex
• sleep for creativity

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