Topic: mnemonic processes

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is important for mnemonic processes, navigation and social cognition. At the basis of all these cognitive processes lies the integration of a multitude of stimuli and their classification into conceptual groups. Neurons in human MTL indeed show concept-specific activity profiles in that they fire specifically for pictures presenting concepts of animals, landscapes, faces, concept relations and their grade of novelty. How such representations are organized during moving scenes, where different concepts are presented simultaneously, has so far received little atten

Rapid eye movement sleep (REM) is often considered as a homogeneous state of sleep, defined by a striking resemblance of its electroencephalogram (EEG) to the one observed in wakefulness. The occurrence of transient events in REM, such as limb twitches or facial and rapid eye movements, supports the view of a paradoxical state of sleep. Here, we investigated the local activity of the primary somatosensory or barrel cortex (S1) in naturally sleeping head-fixed male mice during REM. Through local field potential (LFP) recordings, we uncovered local appearances of spindle waves in the barrel cort