Astrocytes are the superstars of long-term memory: multi-day trace stabilizers | Hacker News Reader

Astrocytes are the superstars of long-term memory: multi-day trace stabilizers

nature.com

6 pointsmarshfram8 comments

ScholarlyArticle: "The astrocytic ensemble acts as a multiday trace to stabilize memory" (2025) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09619-2

Does this multi-day interval correspond to any of the intervals estimated in studies of neural representation drift?

From yesterday regarding carbon microtubules, quantum cognition, and representation drift: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45620897

How do astrocytes affect representation drift?

The drift is probably oscillatory in nature. It's process affecting material. Astrocytes and nanotubules don't directly affect the drift, they are affected by it simply as the memory is shifted by a material/process interaction.

I haven't heard that they've identified period(s) of or resonance from as a cause of representation drift.

Is this fair to say:? Astrocyte activations are more stable for a longer period of time than other neuroactivations.

It's a theory of drift postulated by neurobiologists.

Unsure if they're more stable.

IMHO the cortex is the superstar of long-term memory because of spontaneous recovery of LTM due to redundant storage in the cortex

You've got to settle the memory in during this days long process first, and that's being revised through sharp wave ripples.

That appears to be true for STM but IDK about LTM?

- "Study shows how memories ripple through the brain" (2017) https://www.ninds.nih.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/st...

"Learning-enhanced coupling between ripple oscillations in association cortices and hippocampus" (2017) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aan6203 ... NeuroGrid

- "Brain found to store three copies of every memory" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41352124 :

> So that makes four (4) copies of each memory in the brain if you include the engram cells in the prefrontal cortex

Good to read Rhythms of the Brain for how SWR creates memories.

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