A new study from Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins Medicine reveals how sleep strengthens memory and how epilepsy can disrupt that process. Researchers found that memory consolidation during sleep depends on coordination of three brain regions. If this coordinated activity is disrupted, memory is impaired.
Understanding Epilepsy and Memory
This is the first human study to directly link interactions between the orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus, and hippocampus to memory. The study gives new insight into how the brain strengthens memory and how epilepsy impacts the sleep-memory system.
According to the Epilepsy Foundation Maryland, more than 70,000 Marylanders live with epilepsy. It is the fourth most common neurological disorder in the world. The study had researchers recording brain activity in the three brain regions in patients with epilepsy. They analyzed how rhythmic patterns of electrical activity coordinated across these areas while patients were asleep.
Researchers compared these patterns with memory performance and learned that stronger coordination of electrical activity was linked to better memory. When epileptic spikes occurred, activity was interrupted and memory performance was worse.
Original reporting: Baltimore Fishbowl — read the source article.
