Project description
Sleeping helps the brain remember to forget
A good night’s sleep not only makes you feel better, it also triggers changes in the brain that improve memory. However, sleep also induces forgetting. The EU-funded SleepBalance project will investigate a possible balance between the two. For instance, sleep consolidates abstracted schema-like memory, and this process is coupled to active forgetting of episodic details. By combining human and rodent studies, the project will provide first-time systematic evidence on how sleep transforms memory to induce forgetting. It will explore how memory abstraction and forgetting are linked to slow wave sleep (SWS) and REM sleep. While REM is the 'mentally restorative' stage, SWS is the 'physically restorative' stage. The project's work aims to provide us with concrete knowledge of sleep’s memory function and its multiple applications.
Objective
Sleep supports the formation of long-term memory, a function described as an active systems consolidation process. Concurrently, a long tradition of theorizing exists that sleep serves to forget unimportant memory. Paradoxically, the crucial behavioral demonstration that sleep induces forgetting is currently entirely missing. I hypothesize that memory processing during sleep is balanced: Sleep consolidates abstracted schema-like memory and this process is coupled to active forgetting of episodic detail. This twofold function of sleep is most prominently expressed, with a time delay, after learning large amounts of information exhausting the limited capacities of memory processing during sleep. It is particularly pronounced during development when due to a lack of preexisting knowledge, the brain faces conditions of permanent information overload.
I will combine human and rodent studies to test the behavioral predictions of this hypothesis and to characterize the underlying neural mechanisms. Adopting the active systems consolidation framework, I target the following aims:
1) to provide direct behavioral evidence that with high information load, sleep compared to wakefulness induces forgetting of episodic detail in favor of consolidating abstracted schema-like memory.
2) to clarify how memory abstraction and forgetting are linked to slow wave sleep (SWS) and REM sleep, their characteristic EEG oscillations, and underlying forming and pruning of synapses. Specifically, I hypothesize that spindles support memory abstraction whereas slow oscillations, hippocampal ripples and REM theta concurrently contribute to both memory abstraction and forgetting.
3) to demonstrate enhanced sleep-dependent memory abstraction and forgetting during early development.
This project by providing first-time systematic evidence that and how sleep transforms memory to induce forgetting, will greatly advance our understanding of sleep’s memory function and its multiple applications.
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Keywords
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2019-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
72074 Tuebingen
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.