Thalamic Influence on Slow Wave Slope Renormalization During Sleep.

Objective: Slow waves are thought to mediate an overall reduction in synaptic strength during sleep. The specific contribution of the thalamus to this so-called synaptic renormalization is unknown. Thalamic stroke is associated with daytime sleepiness, along with changes to sleep electroencephalography and cognition, making it a unique "experiment of nature" to assess the relationship between sleep rhythms, synaptic renormalization, and daytime functions.

Author Correction: Deep sleep maintains learning efficiency of the human brain.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15405.

Deep sleep maintains learning efficiency of the human brain.

It is hypothesized that deep sleep is essential for restoring the brain's capacity to learn efficiently, especially in regions heavily activated during the day. However, causal evidence in humans has been lacking due to the inability to sleep deprive one target area while keeping the natural sleep pattern intact. Here we introduce a novel approach to focally perturb deep sleep in motor cortex, and investigate the consequences on behavioural and neurophysiological markers of neuroplasticity arising from dedicated motor practice.

Exercise reward induces appetitive 50-kHz calls in rats.

Rats express affective states by visible behaviors (like approach or flight) and through different kinds of ultrasonic vocalizations (USV). 50-kHz calls are thought to reflect positive affective states since they occur during rewarding situations like social play or palatable food. However, the effects of voluntary exercise on USV have not been investigated yet, although such exercise can serve as reward.