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There is evidence to suggest that sleep and rest are important in verifying which memories to keep, as well. I did some undergraduate research (as a biophysics
by jayajay 10y ago
There is evidence to suggest that sleep and rest are important in verifying which memories to keep, as well. I did some undergraduate research (as a biophysics student) which actually looks at this from a neuroscience perspective. If you are interested in memory and neural networks, read about SPWs, from some scientists in the field:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2039924/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2039924/
http://neuralcircuits.uwm.edu/sharp-wave-ripples/ http://neuralcircuits.uwm.edu/sharp-wave-ripples/
In summary, the hippocampus will organize neurons into clumps which encode spatial dimension. As a rat runs around throughout a track, certain groups of neurons fire[1] depending on where the rat is located. Before the task even starts, hippocampal neurons in a rat actually fire in quick succession (e.g. ABCDEFG). When the task is completed, the same pattern fires in the reverse order (e.g. GFEDCBA). Scientists believe that these SPWs play an important role in memory consolidation.
I have always thought of this as "the rat is thinking about where it's going to run to". So I started learning machine learning and landed on things like RBMs. I was so excited because RBMs are reminiscent of this actual phenomenon that occurs in the brain. So, I asked Hinton about it because this is no mere coincidence, and he told me that he had a theory that required reverse order firing during sleep state.
If you get a ton of new memories and patterns during wake, sleep may be responsible for not only pruning less important memories, but strengthening more important memories. For example, sleep might be asking the brain for a ranked list of memories, and then strengthens the memories above some threshold, and prunes the rest (just an idea).
[1] Synchronized firing, see Kuramoto coupled differential equations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuramoto_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuramoto_model
- giardini 10y agoAnyone know what jayajay means by "SPWs"? Neither article speaks of SPWs but both speak of "sharp waves" or "sharp wave ripples"(designated "SWRs"). Maybe jayajay needs a nap!8-))
- jayajay 10y agoI am not sure why you are attacking me. If you do not understand jargon, please read some more literature. SPW-R complexes. Look it up! Edit: SPWs, Sharp Waves, SWR, etc. are just labels for sharp waves. I can't believe I am getting attacked for using jargon. The names don't matter. The physics and science matters. Richard Feynman. Edit 2: The link I sent uses the same jargon that I use. So, honestly mate, what is your deal here? Are you trolling?
- giardini 10y agoI am not attacking you. I don't work in neuroscience or biology. You used a term (SPW) I'm not familiar with without defining the term, the three articles you referenced did not include the term, in the end we find the term is not an acronym, I have no knowledge of your training or background and my background is different from yours. I was intrigued enough to briefly search for SPW but seeing nothing clearly enlightening, I asked for clarification. My reference to your needing a nap is because you didn't initially define the term SPW, since most reading your post were likely unfamiliar with. No harm was intended. Not everyone knows what you know or thinks about what you think about, especially technical jargon.
- jayajay 10y agoA simple CTRL+F (CMD+F Mac) "SPW" comes up with 7 results in the Wikipedia article I sent you. I didn't define it, but I mentioned why it was interesting, and I linked to an entire paper discussing the phenomenon! Anyways, I hope you read more and share your thoughts. Please no more personal remarks, just focus on the content!
- giardini 10y agoWhen I searched for the string "SPW" at the wikipedia URL you originally posted (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuramoto_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuramoto_model ) I found nothing. Hence my queries. It is true that the article you posted later in response to my queries does indeed contain references to the term "SPW". Thank you for providing that clarifying link. Unfortunately the terminology and origin of the term "SPW" (or "SPW-R")remains unknown to me, despite the second article using it freely. The article says, for example: "... John O'Keefe investigated SPW-Rs in more detail in 1978 while studying the spatial memory of rat..." Queries on Google seem to indicate that the term "SPW-R" refers to the same concept as the acronym "SWR" (a true acronym), but I'll never know, being too impatient to consider the matter further.
- jayajay 10y ago
- rectangletangle 10y agoWorking memory, and concentration are adversely effected by sleep deprivation, which seems like another piece of evidence.