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Nature 444, 559-560 (30 November 2006) | doi:10.1038/nature05309; Published online 5 November 2006

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Neuroscience: A memory boost while you sleep

Robert Stickgold1

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It is generally agreed that sleep aids memory consolidation, but the reasons for this are a mystery. Part of the answer may lie in the patterns of synchronous brain activity unique to the state of slumber.

Only ten years ago, discussions about the purpose of sleep offered great hypotheses, but these were based on flimsy evidence. So scant were the data that some researchers argued that sleep might have no use at all.

  1. Robert Stickgold is at the Center for Sleep and Cognition, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
    Email: rstickgold@hms.harvard.edu

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