Mar'i Joud, Zhang Robert, Mircic Stanislav, Serbe-Kamp Étienne, Meier Matthias, Leonhardt Aljoscha, Drews Michael, Del Grosso Nicholas A, Antony James W, Norman Kenneth A, Marzullo Timothy C, Gage Gregory J
Backyard Brains, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States.
Adv Physiol Educ. 2025 Mar 1;49(1):1-10. doi: 10.1152/advan.00056.2024. Epub 2024 Oct 24.
Newly acquired information is stabilized into long-term memory through the process of consolidation. Memories are not static; rather, they are constantly updated via reactivation, and this reactivation occurs preferentially during slow-wave sleep (SWS; also referred to as N3 in humans). Here we present a scalable neuroscience research investigation of memory reactivation using low-cost electroencephalogram (EEG) recording hardware and open-source software for students and educators across the K-12 and higher education spectrum. The investigation uses a method called targeted memory reactivation (TMR), whereby auditory cues that were previously associated with learning are represented during sleep, triggering the recall of stored memories and (through this) strengthening these memories. We demonstrated the efficacy of this technique on seven healthy human subjects (19-35 years old, 3 females, four males). The subjects learned to play a spatial memory game on an app where they associated pictures (e.g., a clock) with locations on a grid while they listened to picture-appropriate sounds (e.g., "tic-toc"); next, they took a nap while undergoing EEG recordings. During SWS, half of the sounds from the game were replayed by the app, while half were substituted with nonlearned sounds. Subjects then played the memory game again after waking. Results showed that spatial recall was improved more for cued than uncued memories, demonstrating the benefits of memory replay during sleep and suggesting that one may intervene in this process to boost recall of specific memories. This research investigation takes advantage of the importance of sleep for memory consolidation and demonstrates improved memory performance by cueing sounds during SWS. Why study when you could just sleep? We demonstrate how students can perform scalable research investigations to manipulate memory processing during sleep. It is a hands-on way to advance students' understanding of sleep-based memory consolidation and the corresponding neural mechanisms using open-source software and do-it-yourself EEG tools.
新获取的信息通过巩固过程被稳定为长期记忆。记忆并非静止不变；相反，它们通过重新激活不断更新，而这种重新激活优先发生在慢波睡眠（SWS；在人类中也称为N3）期间。在此，我们为K-12和高等教育阶段的学生及教育工作者，展示了一项使用低成本脑电图（EEG）记录硬件和开源软件进行记忆重新激活的可扩展神经科学研究调查。该调查采用了一种称为靶向记忆重新激活（TMR）的方法，即在睡眠期间呈现先前与学习相关的听觉线索，触发对存储记忆的回忆，并（由此）强化这些记忆。我们在7名健康人类受试者（19 - 35岁，3名女性，4名男性）身上证明了该技术的有效性。受试者在一款应用程序上学习玩空间记忆游戏，在听与图片匹配的声音（如“滴答”）时，将图片（如时钟）与网格上的位置相关联；接下来，他们在进行脑电图记录时小睡了一会儿。在慢波睡眠期间，应用程序重新播放了游戏中一半的声音，而另一半则被替换为未学习过的声音。受试者醒来后再次玩记忆游戏。结果表明，有线索提示的记忆比无线索提示的记忆在空间回忆方面改善得更多，这证明了睡眠期间记忆重放的益处，并表明人们可以干预这一过程以提高特定记忆的回忆。这项研究调查利用了睡眠对记忆巩固的重要性，并通过在慢波睡眠期间提示声音证明了记忆表现的改善。当你可以睡觉时为什么还要学习呢？我们展示了学生如何进行可扩展的研究调查，以在睡眠期间操纵记忆处理。这是一种通过开源软件和自制脑电图工具，让学生深入理解基于睡眠的记忆巩固及相应神经机制的实践方法。
