Sleep and Memory

A good night's sleep seems to be critical for processing information and organizing the facts in your mind. But is that better performance just because they are fresh, or is the sleep doing something special to the memory? Well, one way to find out is to record what the brain's doing while we're asleep. Scientists at Northwestern University were able to study patients who had electrodes implanted into their brains to follow their epilepsy. It also meant Kempala could eavesdrop on how newly four memories were altering as these patients slept.