The brain consolidates memory traces in sleep and blocks long-term memories that occur upon waking up, a new study has found. Researchers discovered that the process of consolidation can be traced to certain proteins, which when inhibited allow new stimuli to generate long-term memory.
Process Of Long-Term Memory Formation
Every person is exposed to a number of new experiences and stimuli on a day-to-day basis and some of them trigger and establish a strong connection between the neurons of the brain, which result in formation of new memory traces. However, the traces don't last for a lifetime. If these are to be retained as long-term memories, the brain has to undergo a process called consolidation.
To consolidate and strengthen the memories some new proteins are produced by the brain. However, if the brain experiences new stimuli during the process, the memories might not be consolidated or become lost. The brain solves this problem to an extent by undergoing the consolidation process during sleep.
Memory Study On Sea Hare Aplysia
To understand this process better, researcher Abraham Susswein and his team conducted a series of experiments on sea hare Aplysia. These animals are considered for the study because of their basic ability to learn and technically for their simple nervous system and large neurons.
When the sea slugs were awake, they initially produced proteins in preparation for consolidation. During sleep, the animals produced consolidation proteins again, this time in larger amounts so the memory traces can be strengthened and stabilized into long-term memories. Upon waking up, there were no interactions between the memory consolidation process and new stimuli because the brain blocks the formation of long-term memories from new experiences.
When the production of proteins involved in the process of consolidation was blocked while the animals were asleep, the sea slugs were not able to form long-term memories in sleep. They did, however, encode new experiences in memory upon waking up.
Blocking Proteins For Initiating New Memories
The researchers found that that overcoming the memory block by inhibiting the production of consolidation proteins enables the brain to generate long-term memories from the stimuli experienced upon waking up.
"We may also find that the blocking process accounts for why we cannot remember our dreams when we wake up," said Susswein.
Susswein noted that further research on the topic is necessary to understand the proteins involved in the process and the mechanism involved in blocking the formation of new memories. It is also noted that blocking the proteins could help in the treatment of some mental health issues.
The study is published in the journal eLife.
Photo: Day Donaldson | Flickr
