[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_-kTcRwkqPhQLsqEvdSSyU2XZ3CV5VEleXoE3_xZi2cg.css?delta=0\u0026language=cs\u0026theme=hm_theme\u0026include=eJxLzi9K1U8pKi1IzNErSa0oSSxKTdQtSi3OrEoFAJQ3Cqw"}]},{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/cs\/article\/modal\/6750\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n        \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n  \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea resize-vertical ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EModifying memories during sleep could reduce trauma\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA good snooze is known to be important for forming memories but it is only recently that scientists are starting to understand the details, and the work could lead to better treatments for people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or age-related forgetfulness.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2015, Dr Karim Benchenane from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, France, and his colleagues demonstrated for the first time that false memories could be created in mice while they were sleeping. The team targeted nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain that fire when the animal is, or thinks\u0026nbsp;of being, in a specific location \u2014 the so-called \u2018place cells\u2019 that provide both rodents and people with an internal map.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018When mice sleep after exploring an environment, you see that the same neurons are reactivated in the same order,\u2019 said Dr Benchenane. \u2018Replaying that information in the brain while sleeping is just like repetition in learning. This repetition improves memory consolidation.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing electrodes, the team recorded the activity of place cells when mice explored their environment and later when they slept. They then stimulated the brain areas associated with reward when particular place cells fired \u2013 each of which is associated with a specific location. When they awoke, the mice had a new memory and headed straight to that reward-associated location.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018When you stimulate parts of the brain associated with reward during sleep, it\u2019s just like the animal gets a huge reward in the physical world. We can make the animal believe that it gets a reward in a particular location in the environment,\u2019 explained Dr Benchenane. \u2018This means when place cells fire in sleep, they still convey spatial information.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETraumatic\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow Dr Benchenane hopes to build on this work by using a similar technique to alter negative memories associated with traumatic events in mice, as part of a project called MNEMOSYNE, funded by the EU\u2019s European Research Council (ERC).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We want to use reactivation during sleep to treat pathologies associated with fear or anxiety, such as post-traumatic stress disorder,\u2019 said Dr Benchenane.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe idea is to add positive thoughts to bad memories. \u2018We have managed to modify the emotional imbalance of a memory during sleep by stimulating the reward areas in the brain, meaning we can take a memory that is neutral \u2014 a location in the physical world for instance \u2014 and make it positive. Now we have to understand how positive and negative memories compete in the brain, and see if a positive memory can suppress a negative one, or even make it neutral,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Benchenane and his colleagues plan to give an electrical shock to mice when they are in a specific location, to associate this location with a bad memory. Then, while the mice are asleep, they will stimulate the reward areas in the brain when the place cells fire in this specific location, to change the negative memory into a positive one.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022text-center text-blue font-bold text-2xl w-full lg:w-1\/2 border-2 border-blue p-12 my-8 lg:m-12 lg:-ml-16 float-left\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Cspan class=\u0022text-5xl rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n  \u003Cp class=\u0022font-serif italic\u0022\u003E\u2018The application in humans might not be that far away \u2014 we\u2019re talking about 10 years which is quite soon when we\u2019re talking about science.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n  \u003Cfooter\u003E\n    \u003Ccite class=\u0022not-italic font-normal text-sm text-black\u0022\u003EDr Karim Benchenane, CNRS, France\u003C\/cite\u003E\n  \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018During wakefulness, the rodent will learn to avoid this location because it\u0027s frightening,\u2019 he explained. \u2018But after waking up, we\u0027ll see if the reward we gave during sleep will be able to suppress the aversion memory we gave during wakefulness.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf their results in rodents are promising, the technique could be developed for people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The application in humans might not be that far away \u2014 we\u2019re talking about 10 years which is quite soon when we\u2019re talking about science,\u2019 said Dr Benchenane. \u2018But first we need to understand how positive and negative valence (whether someone feels good or bad about something) compete in the brain. We don\u2019t want to make people like what they are scared of.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile some people might benefit from having memories reduced, others would like to see them strengthened \u2013 a key function of a normal night\u2019s sleep.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs we doze, our brains replay our day. Like this, some memories are consolidated or strengthened whereas unimportant memories are selected and forgotten.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The brain has time to work on strengthening and selecting memories with less disturbance during sleep,\u2019 said Professor Anders Martin Fjell from the University of Oslo in Norway. \u2018Selective forgetting is as important as memory per se, since we do not have the capacity to remember all that we experience, and sleep seems to help us with this too.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOlder\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut as we grow older, our ability to form\u0026nbsp;new memories for specific events in our lives worsens. It not only takes longer to learn new information, but it is also harder to recall that information.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProf. Fjell is looking at how age affects the way memories are unconsciously strengthened in the brain during sleep and its impact on memory loss in the elderly, as part of the ERC-funded project AgeConsolidate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Since a large proportion of cognitively healthy older adults report to be worried about their own memory function, finding the causes of reduced memory in ageing is important,\u2019 said Prof. Fjell. \u2018This will also allow us to develop strategies for reducing memory problems in ageing.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/newsalertsignup\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg class src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/news-alert-final.jpg\u0022 alt width=\u0022983\u0022 height=\u0022222\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough we know age affects our ability to encode (or learn) and retrieve information, studies on how memories are strengthened \u2013 or consolidated \u2013 in the ageing brain have largely been ignored until now, says Prof. Fjell.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe hopes to strengthen selected memories without the participants consciously retrieving or activating them \u2014 as these will otherwise be encoded a second time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo do this, Prof. Fjell and his team will use a technique called targeted memory reactivation (TMR) by using sound\u0026nbsp;to stimulate people\u2019s brains while they sleep\u0026nbsp;in a scanner. The idea is to boost the memory-strengthening processes that happen during deep sleep in order to\u0026nbsp;get a better understanding of the neural mechanisms responsible for increasing memory consolidation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe scans will be carried out across participants with above- and below-average memory function at two-year intervals to look at changes in their brains and specific memories over time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018As many people experience changes in sleeping patterns \u2014 and sometimes quality \u2014 with age, it is important to know whether sleep contributes to the reduced memory in ageing,\u2019 said Prof. Fjell.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n            \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n      Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-3jnc4fmzubgyhkinbnynvdrd1hwlmj88go9hjksh5ds\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-3JNC4fmzubGyHkINbNYNVdrD1hWLmJ88go9HJKsH5ds\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]