Boosting memory consolidation for rehabilitation

Recovery after stroke depends on the brain's ability to relearn and reorganise. Understanding how brain organisation happens, and how we can influence it, will help guide better rehabilitation interventions. Improvements in performance with practice occur not only during a training session, but also after practice has finished. This 'consolidation' of learning depends in part on specific brain activity patterns during sleep. We will test whether amplifying these patterns boosts consolidation and enhances plasticity. We will first record brain signals in rodents, to understand which activity patterns are associated with improvement in performance and brain reorganisation. This will guide studies in people after stroke. We will test headsets that record brain waves during sleep and deliver sounds designed to elicit particular brain activity patterns. This will pave the way for future clinical trials to test whether low-cost intervention that boost consolidation and plasticity can deliver lasting clinical improvements.