Scientists have found new recordings in the activity of the brain, which
consolidates daily memories. This study throws light on how our brain interacts
with itself in the process of day-to-day remembering of facts and figures.
The recordings capture dialogues between hippocampus and neocortex of our brain.
Hippocampus is the area where initial memories of the day's events are formed.
Neocortex is the sheet of neuron on the outer surface of the brain that mediates
conscious thoughts and contain long-term memories. This is the first time
scientists have been able to eavesdrop in it. They knew earlier that it existed.
This experiment was first done on rats. The scientists think that this
interaction occurs in human brain which has similar structures. They have the
same basic principles of operation.
This research has been published in the journal Nature Neuroscience by Daoun Ji
and Matthew A. Wilson. They are researchers at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. They showed that during sleep both hippocampus and neocortex
replayed memories of the activities the rats learnt the previous day. This is
seen clinically by repeated simultaneous bursts of electrical activity.
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