Transcranial brain stimulation to study memory processing and synaptic plasticity during sleep

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Til Ole Bergmann; Professor Dr. Ulf Ziemann
• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 468645090

This project investigates the oscillatory mechanisms mediating information abstraction and underlying synaptic rescaling during sleep using real-time EEG-triggered transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the primary motor cortex and transcranial ultrasonic stimulation (TUS) of the thalamus in humans (i) to characterize the excitation-inhibition-balance during sleep spindles and slow oscillations, (ii) to establish spindles/slow oscillations as windows of plasticity that enable synaptic rescaling during sleep, and (iii) to demonstrate that spindles are causally relevant for information abstraction during systems consolidation.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5434: Information Abstraction During Sleep