How does sleep deprivation mess with memory-making? The rhythmic firing of neurons in one subsection of the hippocampus is a likely culprit.
New research clarifies how sleep deprivation affects memory-making in the brain.
Previously, researchers knew that depriving mice of sleep after the mice performed a task resulted in the mice forgetting aspects of that task. But researchers weren't sure what function of the hippocampus—two seahorse-shaped structures located in the temporal lobe of the brain where many long-term memories are made—couldn't do its job.
