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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Measuring Neural Mechanisms Underlying Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation During Naps in Early Childhood
Published on: October 2, 2019
Hippocampus whispering in deep sleep to prefrontal cortex--for good memories?
1Department of Neuroendocrinology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, Haus 23a, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.
Abstract:
Enduring episodic memories are thought to be formed in a dialog between hippocampus and neocortex promoting the redistribution of newly encoded memories from hippocampal to neocortical stores. In this issue of Neuron, Wierzynski et al. report that during slow wave sleep (SWS), driven by hippocampal sharp wave-ripple bursts, cells in prefrontal cortex fire consistently within 100 ms after hippocampal cells, i.e., a time window that allows for synaptic plastic changes in the neocortical cells. These observations corroborate evidence for a hippocampo-to-neocortical transfer of memories taking place during SWS.
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