sleep-spindle-memory

Sleep Spindle Memory Transfer

This artwork depicts the mysterious process of sleep spindles transferring memories from short-term to long-term storage during sleep.

 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │       SLEEP SPINDLE MEMORY TRANSFER       │
 │                                           │
 │  ⏱️ SHORT-TERM             LONG-TERM 💾    │
 │    ┌─────┐                 ┌─────┐        │
 │    │HIPPO│     ~~~~~~~~    │CORTEX│       │
 │    │CAMPUS│ ⌇⌇⌇ SLEEP  ⌇⌇⌇ │LAYERS│   │
 │    │≈≈≈≈≈≈│ ⌇⌇⌇SPINDLES⌇⌇⌇ │▓▓▓▓▓▓│   │
 │    └──┬──┘   ~~~~~~~~     └──┬──┘        
 │       │        ⌇⌇⌇           │          │
 │ ┏━━━━━┷━┓   ~~~⌇⌇~~~     ┏━━┷━━━━┓       
 │ ┃MEMORY1┃ → ⌇⌇⌇~~~⌇⌇⌇ → ┃MEMORY1┃     │
 │ ┃MEMORY2┃ → ~~~⌇⌇~~~ → ┃MEMORY2┃       │
 │ ┃MEMORY3┃ → ⌇⌇~~~~~⌇ → ┃MEMORY3┃       │
 │ ┗━━━━━━━┛    ~~~~~     ┗━━━━━━━┛       │
 │                                           │
 │          zzz     zzz     zzz              │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────┘

During sleep, our brains perform critical memory consolidation through oscillatory brain patterns called sleep spindles. These mysterious electrical pulses move memories from short-term storage in the hippocampus to long-term storage across cortical layers, transforming volatile experiences into stable memories while we dream.