After providing all the funding for The Brain from Top to Bottom for over 10 years, the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction informed us that because of budget cuts, they were going to be forced to stop sponsoring us as of March 31st, 2013.

We have approached a number of organizations, all of which have recognized the value of our work. But we have not managed to find the funding we need. We must therefore ask our readers for donations so that we can continue updating and adding new content to The Brain from Top to Bottom web site and blog.

Please, rest assured that we are doing our utmost to continue our mission of providing the general public with the best possible information about the brain and neuroscience in the original spirit of the Internet: the desire to share information free of charge and with no adverstising.

Whether your support is moral, financial, or both, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Bruno Dubuc, Patrick Robert, Denis Paquet, and Al Daigen





Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Memory consolidation during REM sleep

Out of all the experiments that have been done on memory consolidation and REM sleep, there is one, published in 2016, that I especially love mentioning because it was done at the Douglas Hospital research centre that enabled me to develop this website. Sylvain Williams and his research team successfully used optogenetics to silence inhibitory neurons in the medial septum of mice. Without disturbing the animals’ sleep, the researchers were able to greatly attenuate the 4 to 8 Hz theta rhythm that is associated with memory consolidation during REM sleep. Upon awakening, the mice did not remember the new location of an object. This treatment also disrupted a fear that had been conditioned in a certain context. In contrast, silencing the inhibitory neurons in the medial septum outside of episodes of REM sleep had no effect on memory. (more…)

Memory and the Brain, Sleep and Dreams | Comments Closed