Basic informations
Investigator: PhDr. Jana Kopřivová, Ph.D.
Main recipient: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Co-recipient:
Research period: 1/2/2022 – 31/12/2024
Total budget: 9,974,000 CZK
NIMH budget: 6,018,000 CZK
Supported by: Czech Science Foundation (GACR)
Annotation
We aim to test several hypotheses concerning strengthening selected spatial memory types during sleep and manipulating them by sound stimulation. Sleep plays a crucial role in memory consolidation, its reinforcement, and reorganization. We plan to gather behavioural evidence about these processes in three forms of spatial memory associated with the hippocampus in the brain: memory for allocentric spatial relationships, the spatial context of episodic memory, and the creation of spatial schemas. These types of spatial memory have only marginally been studied in terms of consolidation processes, and the sleep influence on them is not apparent. We will use the latest technique combining closed-loop and targeted memory reactivation, where the playback of specific learned sounds is synchronized with the phase of slow oscillations during sleep. In a series of experiments, we will evaluate how much we can influence spatial memory by sound stimulation. Our project will bring fundamental results regarding spatial memory consolidation, potentially applicable to rehabilitate memory disorders.