Oscillatory dynamics of memory replay in sleep
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Human study of the oscillatory dynamics of memory replay in sleep
IRAS ID
270693
Contact name
Liz Coulthard
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 0 days
Research summary
Sleep is an essential brain state, one of its primary functions is the consolidation of short-term memory into long-term ones. This is done through a complex interplay of brain rhythms of different frequencies, with memories being sent across the brain for storage and weakly formed memories being replayed in local circuits to strengthen them.
Memory consolidation is an extremely important brain function and its degradation, which occurs in natural aging and more acutely in conditions such as dementia, can have a huge impact on the individual. Understanding the mechanisms by which the brain consolidates memories could be critical in developing methods by which to combat this deterioration and potentially offer ways of enhancing it in the healthy population.
This study aims to probe these brain activities using a behavioural paradigm in an epilepsy patient group, a group which undergoes scalp and intracranial monitoring as part of their routine clinical care. The research team will be comparing memory for individual trials items between pre and post-sleep tests to infer the effect of different brain rhythms and physiological markers during sleep on memory. This study, lasting approximately 18 months, includes patients from Southmead Hospital undergoing both intracranial and scalp-only monitoring with very similar paradigms.
The ability to use intracranial data for the study of memory consolidation is vital in illuminating its processes because of the deep location of the involved brain regions. The scalp-only arm of the study will act to increase the statistical power of behavioural data and the links between intracranial and scalp monitoring.
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SW/0229
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jan 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion