Sleep Spindles as Facilitators of Memory Formation and Learning

Abstract

Over the past decades important progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of sleep spindle generation. At the same time a physiological role of sleep spindles is starting to be revealed. Behavioural studies in humans and animals have found significant correlations between the recall performance in different learning tasks and the amount of sleep spindles in the intervening sleep. Concomitant neurophysiological experiments showed a close relationship between sleep spindles and other sleep related EEG rhythms as well as a relationship between sleep spindles and synaptic plasticity. Together, there is growing evidence from several disciplines in neuroscience for a participation of sleep spindles in memory formation and learning.