Researchers at Cornell University discovered that the pupil’s size is crucial in understanding how the brain forms strong, long-lasting memories. By studying mice with brain electrodes and eye-tracking cameras, they found that new memories are consolidated during non-REM sleep when the pupil is contracted, while older memories are consolidated when the pupil is dilated. This mechanism prevents “catastrophic forgetting” where one memory erases another. The findings could lead to improved memory enhancement techniques for humans and more efficient artificial neural networks. This study, led by Azahara Oliva and Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz, sheds light on the brain’s ability to organize memory consolidation during sleep.
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Pupil size in sleep reveals how memories are processed
