Sleep, Memory & Language

Dr Dziri N I
1st year Pharmacy - Physiology
2025/2026

Learning outcomes

 To explain the physiological stages and functions of sleep.

 To describe the processes of memory formation, storage, and retrieval.
 To understand the neural basis of language and speech production.
Course outline
I. Physiology of Sleep
II. Physiology of memory
III. Physiology of language

I. The physiology of sleep

1. Definition

 Sleep: State of unconsciousness from which a subject can be aroused by appropriate sensory or
other stimuli.
 Sleep may also be defined as a normal, periodic, inhibition of the reticular Activating system.
 Awake: State of readiness/alertness & ability to react consciously to various stimuli.
 Coma: State of unconsciousness from which a person cannot be aroused by any external stimuli.
2. Why do we sleep ?

 Sleep Theory #1-To Rest : to gain relief from hyperactive stage

 Sleep Theory #2-To Heal: Sleep also allow us to heal our body. The immune system (our ability to
fight with diseases),
 Sleep Theory #3- Sleep deprivation affects our metabolism. It may also serve as a risk factor for
obesity, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus
 Sleep Theory #4- To Learn : Sleep may Help the human brain get better organized- by filing away
important memories and discarding unwanted information.
3. Behavioral and Physiological Criteria of Wakefulness and Sleep

EEG: Electro-
encephalogram
EOM: Electo-
oculogram
EMG: Electro-
myogram
4. Sleep stages
1/ NREM (Non rapid eye movement) sleep
-Stage 1: light sleep
-Stage 2: sleep spindles & K-complexes
-Stage 3: deep sleep (slow waves, restorative)

2/ REM (Rapid eye movement) sleep

-Dreams
-Muscle atonia
-Memory consolidation

5. Sleep cycles

 A sleep cycle is the progression through the various stages of NREM sleep to REM sleep before
beginning the progression again with NREM sleep.
 The sleep cycle is an oscillation between the slow-wave and REM (paradoxical) phases of sleep.
 It is sometimes called the ultradian sleep cycle, sleep-dream cycle, or REM-NREM cycle.
 A person would begin a sleep cycle every 90- 120 minutes resulting in four to five cycles per sleep
time, or hours spent asleep.
 A sleep cycle progress through the stages of non-REM sleep from light to deep sleep, then reverse
back from deep sleep to light sleep, ending with time in REM sleep before starting over in light sleep
again.
6. Sleep regulation

• 2 kinds of activity
1. Slowly changing influence
a. Homeostatic drive (Also known as process S ) : The need for sleep, peaks just before bedtime at night and
dissipates throughout the night. Some substance accumulate influences the mechanism of sleep- possibly
Adenosine

b. Circadian rhythm: Change according to time of day, also known as Process C, which is wake promoting
and is regulated by the circadian system:
Process C builds across the day, serving to counteract process S and promote wakefulness and alertness.
2. Rapidly changing influence: Hypothalamus FLIP/FLOP switch
 • Sleep process S
-is regulated by neurons that shut down the arousal
systems, thus allowing the brain to fall asleep.
-These neurons are found in the preoptic area of the
hypothalamus. These neurons, containing molecules that
inhibit neuronal communication, turnoff the arousal
systems during sleep.
-Initiation and maintenance of sleep require suppression of
activity in the ascending arousal systems. This is
accomplished by inhibitory neurons of the ventrolateral
preoptic area (VLPO) which remain active throughout sleep
-The molecular “triggers” that activate the VLPO and
initiate sleep, points to extracellular adenosine as a
candidate.
-Adenosine accumulates in basal forebrain during
wakefulness and diminishes with ongoing sleep.
-Adenosine receptors are expressed in the VLPO and adenosine activates VLPO neurons in vivo , making it
a reasonable candidate for the “sleep switch.”
-Other molecules also play important signaling roles controlling the initiation and maintenance of sleep.
-The monoaminergic arousal centers project to the VLPO and may serve to inhibit its activity. This creates
the concept of “flip-flop” control of behavioral state, in which, at any given time, activity of either arousal
producing or sleep-producing neurons dominates and suppresses the other.
-In addition, the VLPO receives important circadian modulation from the suprachiasmatic nucleus—the
central circadian clock.

 Process C
-Circadian rhythms: are those that occur with about a 24
hour periodicity.
-Humans have an internal “clock” that runs in the
absence of external clues about darkness and light.
-The internal clock “free-runs” with a period of about 24.2
hours, just slightly longer than a day on Earth.
-The internal clock can quickly be entrained with light
shining into the eyes at a set time each day.
-Special cells in the retina contain a pigment called
melanopsin.
-Axons from these retinal ganglion cells project to the
suprachiasmatic nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus.
-Postganglionic axons project to the pineal gland
(pinecone shaped). Melatonin is synthesized.
- The pineal gland releases the most melatonin when
there’s darkness and decreases melatonin production
when the eyes are exposed to light.
-High melatonin levels are found in serum at night when sleeping and less during the daylight hours.
-Normally, body temperature follows a circadian rhythm, with a decrease at night and an increase during
the day.
-The SCN orchestrates this rhythm by initiating cooling
processes during the evening and nighttime.
-This drop in temperature promotes sleep onset and
facilitates restorative sleep.
-Hormones and neurotransmitters, such as melatonin, are
released by the SCN to influence thermoregulation.
-In the morning and throughout the day, as light exposure
increases, the SCN triggers the warming process, leading to a
rise in body temperature.
-This promotes wakefulness and alertness. Hormones and
neurotransmitters, like cortisol, are released to support
wakefulness.
-The interaction between homeostatic and circadian
regulation is vital for maintaining a healthy sleep-wake
cycle.
-The homeostatic process determines the need for sleep based on prior wakefulness, whereas the
circadian process uses the light-dark cycle to predict when and how much sleep and wakefulness will
occur. Disruptions of these regulatory processes can lead to sleep disorders and irregular sleep patterns.
-The interaction between homeostatic and circadian regulation is vital for maintaining a healthy sleep-wake
cycle.
-The homeostatic process determines the need for sleep based on prior wakefulness, whereas the
circadian process uses the light-dark cycle to predict when and how much sleep and wakefulness will
occur.
-Disruptions of these regulatory
processes can lead to sleep
disorders and irregular sleep
patterns.
7. Sleep disorders
There are over 80 different types of sleep disorders. The most common include:

Chronic insomnia: trouble falling asleep or staying asleep most nights for at least three months.
Obstructive sleep apnea: Snoring and trouble breathing that disrupt sleep.
Restless legs syndrome: the urge to move legs while resting.
Narcolepsy: Difficulty regulating when to fall asleep/stay awake.
Shift work sleep disorder: trouble falling asleep and staying asleep and sleepiness at unwanted times due
to work schedule.
Delayed sleep phase syndrome: sleeping at least two hours after desired bedtime and difficulty waking up
in time.
REM sleep behavior disorder: acting out dreams while in the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep.

II. The physiology of memory

1. Definition
Memory is the process by which information acquired through learning is stored and retrieved.
For an experience to become part of memory, it must produce persistent structural and functional changes
that represent the experience in the brain.
2. Types of memory

 Three temporal stages of memory

1/ Immediate memory – seconds
2/ Recent memory – minutes to days
3/ Remote memory – years
 Memory systems
- Short term memory
Working memory
- Long term memory
Declarative memory (explicit)
Non declarative memory (implicit)

Explicit & many forms of implicit memory involve:

-short-term memory, which lasts secs to hours, during which processing in hippocampus & elsewhere lays
down long-term changes in synaptic strength and long-term memory, which stores memories for years and
sometimes for life.
-During short-term memory, the memory traces are subject to disruption by trauma and various drugs,
whereas long-term memory traces are remarkably resistant to disruption.
-Working memory is a form of short-term memory that keeps information available, usually for very short
periods, while the individual plans action based on it.
3. Nervous structures involved

The main nervous structures involved in memory are the hippocampus (for forming and consolidating
memories), the amygdala (for emotional memories), the cerebellum (for procedural memories), and the
prefrontal cortex (for working memory and retrieval). These structures work together within the brain to
encode, store, and retrieve information.

4. Biological Basis of Memory

-Short-term memory involves transient modification in functions of pre-existing

synapses.
-Long-term memory involves permanent functional & structural changes between
existing neurons in the brain.
-New neurons continously being formed in olfactory bulb & the hippocampus, a
process called neurogenesis.
-Neurogenesis plays role in learning memory in hippocampus.
-The cerebral cortex is the primary area of storage in the
brain. The cerebral cortex is often referred to as gray matter
and covers the outer portion (1.5mm to 5mm) of the brain.
-Memory does not reside in neurons-it is change in pattern/
alteration of signals transmitted across selected synapses in a
neuronal network.
-This alteration involve protein synthesis and gene activation.
-Different mechanisms are responsible for short term and long
term memory.
-For learning to “stick”, the synapses need time to “gel” (create
new connections and synapses).
-Simply put, memories are stored in subgroups of neurons that
are activated in response to various sensory experiences.
-The storage of information in LTM (Long-term memory) is a
function of new interconnections and synapses and the
production of new protein molecules. Neurons lining up, new
connections are formed, creation of a memory bundle.

III. The physiology of language

-Language is one of the fundamental bases of human intelligence and a key part of human culture.
-One of the most important differences between human beings and lower animals is the facility with which
human beings can communicate with one another.

1. Means of communications
Sensory or motor:

Sensory Motor
Communication Communications
(Language input) (Language output)
Auditory Power of talking
communication
Visual writing
communication

2. Major brain areas involved in the comprehension and production of language

-The primary brain areas concerned with language are arrayed along and near the sylvian fissure (lateral
cerebral sulcus) of the categorical hemisphere (left hemisphere).
-A region at the posterior end of the superior temporal gyrus called Wernicke’s area is concerned with
comprehension of auditory and visual information.

-It projects via the arcuate fasciculus to Broca’s area in the frontal lobe immediately in front of the inferior
end of the motor cortex.
-Broca’s area processes the information received from Wernicke’s area into a detailed and coordinated
pattern for vocalization and then projects the pattern via a speech articulation area in the insula to the motor
cortex, which initiates the appropriate movements of the lips, tongue, and larynx to produce speech.

Figure : Brain pathways for perceiving a written vs. a heard word and then speaking the same word
4. Motor Aspects of Communication
• The process of speech involves two principal stages:
1. formation in the mind of thoughts to be expressed, as well as choice of words to be used, and then
2. motor control of vocalization and the actual act of vocalization itself.
5. Language disorders
• Motor aphasia: is one of the major language disorders, it results from damage to Broca’s speech
area.
• Aphasias are abnormalities of language functions that are not due to defects of vision or hearing or
to motor paralysis.
• They are caused by lesions in the categorical hemisphere.
• The most common cause is embolism or thrombosis of a cerebral blood vessel.
Many different classifications of the aphasias have been published, but a convenient classification divides
them into nonfluent, fluent, and anomic aphasias.