My paper exploring EEG phase dynamics across sleep and retrieval training has just been published online! This paper summarises the work I conducted with Sebastian Michelmann and Simon Hanslmayr, during my PhD. The paper is open access, so feel free to give it a read🧠 direct.mit.edu/imag/article...

Phase similarity between similar objects indicates representational merging across retrieval training but not sleep

Abstract. Retrieval training (i.e., cued recall) is theorised to induce rapid memory consolidation, similarly to sleep. Across consolidation, related neural representations become increasingly similar...

direct.mit.edu

📣New paper! How does the sleeping brain help us to integrate new experiences while managing memories from the past? For his PhD work, @sabbaspoor.bsky.social recorded hippocampal ensembles in freely moving monkeys and found something unexpected. 🧵1/n www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪🧠📈👩‍🔬#OpenAccess

Experience reorganizes content-specific memory traces in macaques - Nature Neuroscience

In macaques, old memories, relative to new ones, are supported by more stable and interconnected cell assemblies. New-biased and old-biased assemblies reactivate during overnight sleep and can sometim...

nature.com

***New preprint from the lab*** showing “Generative replay across hippocampal-neocortical circuits”. In sleep we show spiking sequences in V1 (sensory neocortex!) that represent information that has not been directly experienced www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @bndu.ox.ac.uk @ndcnoxford.bsky.social

Generative replay across hippocampal-neocortical circuits

To make flexible decisions, the brain needs to make inferences between events that were not directly experienced together. In sharp-wave ripple (SWR) events, during periods of rest and sleep, spiking ...

biorxiv.org

Replay of procedural memory is independent of the hippocampus 👀👀 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Replay of procedural memory is independent of the hippocampus - Nature Neuroscience

Thompson, Rollik and colleagues show that, during sleep, the brain replays procedural memories in the striatum independently of the hippocampus. Replay content was shaped by prior reward and error out...

nature.com

Can we study MTL ripples non-invasively? New preprint! We show that source-resolved MEG tracks ripple-like activity during sleep that: • localizes to the MTL • follows the canonical SO–spindle hierarchy • matches an iEEG benchmark • indexes memory reactivation www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Non-invasive tracking of ripple-like activity during human sleep using MEG

Hippocampal ripples are considered a key mechanism of sleep-dependent memory consolidation. In humans, however, their direct investigation has relied on invasive recordings from patients with epilepsy...

biorxiv.org

Night-to-night sleep EEG variability over one year: We found that intra-individual night-to-night variation was low for spectral power, sleep duration, N2 and REM sleep; medium for N3 and macrostructure; and high for sleep cycle duration, wake and N1. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Night-to-night sleep EEG variability over one year

This study aimed to explore night-to-night variability of multiscale sleep patterns by analyzing subcutaneous electroencephalography (sqEEG) from 20 healthy participants over one year (205–388 nights ...

biorxiv.org

Post-encoding slow-wave amplitude during a daytime nap predicts pattern completion from sparse visual cues https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.17.738149v1

Looking to work with a postdoc. Prior experience with fMRI and computational modeling required, interest in psychiatry desired. Fellowship provides three years salary plus independent travel/equipment funds. Send CV and 2-3 manuscripts (preprints OK).

We tested this idea with a representative large-scale survey, and confirmed that higher dream recall frequency is indeed associated with more frequent dream-reality confusions: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Check out our @royalsociety.org Philosophical Transactions B theme issue, "The role of hippocampal prediction: bridging perception and memory." Thanks to all our fabulous authors, and my co-editors @peterkok.bsky.social and @mariamaly.bsky.social who dreamed it up and kept the train on the tracks.

Peter Kok@peterkok.bsky.social · 4w ago

The hippocampus sits at the interface of perception & memory, allowing us to link past, present, & future through its role in generating predictions. Excited to share this theme issue in @royalsociety.org's Philosophical Transactions B, co-edited with @barense.bsky.social & @mariamaly.bsky.social

Very excited to share our new review on C-HORSE, our model of the hippocampus! We think there is very encouraging alignment between C-HORSE proposals and the extant empirical literature, though we also note plenty of areas for further model development. royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...

Evidence for complementary learning systems within the hippocampus

Abstract. Decades of research have established the hippocampus as central to episodic memory, but growing evidence suggests that it also contributes to str

royalsocietypublishing.org

We're finally getting the tools to study replay in humans. But why bother? What can we learn from it that we don't know from rodent recordings? Our thoughts are now out in a new TICS Forum Great fun writing this w @smfleming.bsky.social + @maritpetzka.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

What can we learn from studying replay in humans?

Noninvasive methods are making it possible to study neural replay in humans. Although focused on alignment with rodent findings, human research often …

authors.elsevier.com

Yikes

megan peters 🧠@meganakpeters.bsky.social · last mo.

so this exists prof-ping.vercel.app an app to cold email professors in bulk without having to bother with any pesky thinking for yourself, nevermind having to actually read papers or form your own opinions. what a time saver (for you, not them obv). /s (in case unclear: pls pls don't use this.)

I love, love, love this idea!! Spread the word!

Eitan Schechtman@eitans.bsky.social · last mo.

We're proud to introduce Brainbow, a new Slack workspace for LGBTQIA+ people in neuroscience worldwide. Brainbow aims to provide a safe space, even for those in the closet (emails & names are optional). It also includes channels for communities within the LGBTQIA+ umbrella (eg, trans/non-binary) 1/2

During sleep, neurons in the hippocampus 'replay' past activity patterns. This is thought to underlie memory consolidation 🧠 After a busy day, how does the brain sort out what is worth replaying? 🤔 Check out this preprint 📃 from Tirole, Duvelle and Bendor for answers! doi.org/10.64898/202...

Time, but not reward, shapes replay-based episodic prioritization

Why are some experiences remembered better than others? Leading theories propose that hippocampal replay prioritizes memories for consolidation according to their expected future value. We recorded hi...

doi.org

NEW! Explore @thetransmitter.bsky.social’s newest tool, Neuro Funding Finder. Discover grants, fellowships and funding opportunities for neuroscience research at all career stages. Find your next funding source and apply, all in one place: thetransmitter.org/neuroscience... #neuroskyence

🌈 As Pride Month comes to a close, we're proud to introduce Brainbow—a new Slack workspace for LGBTQIA+ people in neuroscience worldwide. Help us reach everyone by sharing with friends & colleagues around the world! loom.ly/2_KfMCU @fens.org @ibroorg.bsky.social @sfn.org @ejneuroscience.bsky.social

New preprint! We show low arousal states promote hippocampal ripple genesis in sleep and wake. This bridges rodent work, where ripples predominate during sleep, with human studies reporting ripples during active behavior, identifying low arousal as a common mechanism www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Arousal state modulates human hippocampal ripples

Hippocampal ripples are transient, high-frequency oscillations linked to memory replay and consolidation. Ripples are well-characterized in rodents to occur during periods of behavioral inactivity (i....

biorxiv.org

We're proud to introduce Brainbow, a new Slack workspace for LGBTQIA+ people in neuroscience worldwide. Brainbow aims to provide a safe space, even for those in the closet (emails & names are optional). It also includes channels for communities within the LGBTQIA+ umbrella (eg, trans/non-binary) 1/2

Join Brainbow on Slack

Slack is a new way to communicate with your team. It’s faster, better organized, and more secure than email.

join.slack.com

Arousal state modulates human hippocampal ripples https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.26.734578v1

Ever wondered what having auditory stimulation does to the sleep itself? Random stimulation disturbs SWS, memory, and travelling dynamics of slow waves. New paper in iScience with @mschoenauer.bsky.social, @denizkumral.bsky.social, and Steffen Gais! doi.org/10.1016/j.is... #sleep #neuroskyence

Who needs sleep when you can just slow wave during wake? www.nature.com/articles/s41... #sleeppeeps

Induction of cortical on/off periods in awake mice fulfills sleep functions - Nature Neuroscience

Driessen et al. show that core benefits of sleep—reduced local sleep pressure, renormalized synaptic strength and memory consolidation—can be reproduced in awake, behaving mice by inducing sleep-like ...

nature.com

We are looking to fill a PhD position for an exciting project on the development of memory consolidation karriere.charite.de/tarifvertraege. This project is part of the DFG-funded CRC www.sfb1315.de/de/sfb1315-2/ and is a collaboration between my lab, Claudia Buss, and @yeeleeshing.bsky.social.

🧠 New preprint! How well can current algorithms *actually* detect neural "replay" in the human brain under absolutely optimal conditions? We built FASTIMAGES: A combined MEG + fMRI benchmark with KNOWN neural sequences, so replay-detection methods can finally be validated against a ground truth.

FASTIMAGES: Validating replay detection methods in human neuroimaging

A combined MEG + fMRI benchmark dataset with known neural sequences to validate replay detection methods (TDLM and SODA).

cimh-clinical-psychology.github.io

I've seen a lot of info for specialized audiences (e.g. scientists, non-profits) on how to comment on the proposed OMB rule change for grants, but less for the general public. So I made this one-pager that can be shared more widely. docs.google.com/document/d/e...

Interested in human replay and solid methods? Jointly with @skjerns.de we're releasing a benchmark dataset with known ground-truth neural sequences in MEG & fMRI, for developing & validating replay methods. First test: existing methods show similar effect sizes, but room to improve shorturl.at/6TgIr

FASTIMAGES: Validating replay detection methods in human neuroimaging using a combined MEG and fMRI dataset

Studies in rodents and humans using invasive electrophysiology have established that neural replay is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the brain that is associated with a wide range of cognitive functions, ...

shorturl.at

New paper from our group: using simultaneous EEG-fMRI, we investigated the neural mechanisms underlying individual NREM sleep slow waves. Our findings suggest that slow waves are not a homogeneous phenomenon and may reflect distinct physiological processes. www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Thalamic involvement defines distinct slow-wave subtypes in NREM sleep - Communications Biology

Using simultaneous EEG-fMRI, we identify two types of NREM slow waves with distinct thalamic profiles. Large, synchronized waves involve early thalamic activation and arousal markers, whereas smaller ...

nature.com

I am recruiting an exceptional postdoc to join my lab at UC Irvine. Must be a productive researcher with experience in functional neuroimaging, network neuroscience, AI/ML, who is interested in aging, neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative illness. www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/44...

📢 New paper out in @nathumbehav.nature.com: we identify a previously undescribed fast thalamic oscillation (~19–45 Hz) in rare intracranial human recordings that appears specifically during wakefulness and REM sleep — but disappears during NREM sleep. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🏳️‍🌈🌍 The researchers behind a new global survey of LGBTQIA+ neuroscientists discuss the impact of political climate, institutional support & lived experiences in academia. 🔗 Read the interview: https://ow.ly/jYxu50Z0697 #IBROjournals #IBROauthors David Pagliaccio Dori Grijseels Eitan Schechtman