Sleep requires that we disconnect from the environment, losing the ability to promptly
respond to stimuli. There must be at least one essential function that justifies why we take …

Sleep is universal, tightly regulated, and many cognitive functions are impaired if we do not
sleep. But why? Why do our brains need to disconnect from the environment for hours every …

Highlights•Synapses undergo changes due to the physiological sleep/wake cycle or as a
consequence of partial or total sleep deprivation.•Sleep deprivation impairs the ability of …

Sleep is a fundamental and evolutionarily conserved aspect of animal life. Recent studies
have shed light on the role of sleep in synaptic plasticity. Demonstrations of memory replay …

Research findings over the past two decades have supported a link between sleep states
and synaptic plasticity. Numerous mechanistic hypotheses have been put forth to explain …

The hypothesis that sleep promotes learning and memory has long been a subject of active
investigation. This hypothesis implies that sleep must facilitate synaptic plasticity in some …

Synaptic plasticity is important for learning and memory. With increasing evidence linking
sleep states to changes in synaptic strength, an emerging view is that sleep promotes …

Synaptic plasticity underlying learning and memory has been proposed, on the basis of
several experimental approaches, to be intimately related with sleep: 1) The idea that sleep …

In the last decades a substantial knowledge about sleep mechanisms has been
accumulated. However, the function of sleep still remains elusive. The difficulty with …

It is commonly accepted that brain plasticity occurs in wakefulness and sleep. However, how
these different brain states work in concert to create long-lasting changes in brain circuitry is …