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SLEEP AND LEARNING

Sleeping through brain excitation and inhibition

Nature Neuroscience volume 23, pages 1037–1039 (2020)Cite this article

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Sleep is controlled by a cocktail of neurotransmitters, but it is difficult to measure these in the brain. A new study by Tamaki et al. reveals how the balance between excitation and inhibition oscillates as the brain moves through sleep stages and how this impacts upon memory consolidation and stabilization.

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Fig. 1: The effect of NREM and REM sleep on plasticty and the excitatory–inhibitory balance after learning.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CUBRIC, Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Sofia I. R. Pereira & Penelope A. Lewis

  2. School of Psychological Sciences, Manchester University, Manchester, UK

    Penelope A. Lewis

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  1. Sofia I. R. Pereira
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  2. Penelope A. Lewis
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Correspondence to Penelope A. Lewis.

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Pereira, S.I.R., Lewis, P.A. Sleeping through brain excitation and inhibition. Nat Neurosci 23, 1037–1039 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-0697-4

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