There is evidence to suggest that sleep and rest are important in verifying which memories to keep, as well. I did some undergraduate research (as a biophysics student) which actually looks at this from a neuroscience perspective. If you are interested in memory and neural networks, read about SPWs, from some scientists in the field:
In summary, the hippocampus will organize neurons into clumps which encode spatial dimension. As a rat runs around throughout a track, certain groups of neurons fire[1] depending on where the rat is located. Before the task even starts, hippocampal neurons in a rat actually fire in quick succession (e.g. ABCDEFG). When the task is completed, the same pattern fires in the reverse order (e.g. GFEDCBA). Scientists believe that these SPWs play an important role in memory consolidation.
I have always thought of this as "the rat is thinking about where it's going to run to". So I started learning machine learning and landed on things like RBMs. I was so excited because RBMs are reminiscent of this actual phenomenon that occurs in the brain. So, I asked Hinton about it because this is no mere coincidence, and he told me that he had a theory that required reverse order firing during sleep state.
If you get a ton of new memories and patterns during wake, sleep may be responsible for not only pruning less important memories, but strengthening more important memories. For example, sleep might be asking the brain for a ranked list of memories, and then strengthens the memories above some threshold, and prunes the rest (just an idea).
I am not sure why you are attacking me. If you do not understand jargon, please read some more literature. SPW-R complexes. Look it up!
Edit: SPWs, Sharp Waves, SWR, etc. are just labels for sharp waves. I can't believe I am getting attacked for using jargon. The names don't matter. The physics and science matters. Richard Feynman.
Edit 2: The link I sent uses the same jargon that I use. So, honestly mate, what is your deal here? Are you trolling?
I am not attacking you. I don't work in neuroscience or biology.
You used a term (SPW) I'm not familiar with without defining the term, the three articles you referenced did not include the term, in the end we find the term is not an acronym, I have no knowledge of your training or background and my background is different from yours.
I was intrigued enough to briefly search for SPW but seeing nothing clearly enlightening, I asked for clarification.
My reference to your needing a nap is because you didn't initially define the term SPW, since most reading your post were likely unfamiliar with. No harm was intended. Not everyone knows what you know or thinks about what you think about, especially technical jargon.
A simple CTRL+F (CMD+F Mac) "SPW" comes up with 7 results in the Wikipedia article I sent you. I didn't define it, but I mentioned why it was interesting, and I linked to an entire paper discussing the phenomenon! Anyways, I hope you read more and share your thoughts. Please no more personal remarks, just focus on the content!
It is true that the article you posted later in response to my queries does indeed contain references to the term "SPW". Thank you for providing that clarifying link.
Unfortunately the terminology and origin of the term "SPW" (or "SPW-R")remains unknown to me, despite the second article using it freely. The article says, for example:
"... John O'Keefe investigated SPW-Rs in more detail in 1978 while studying the spatial memory of rat..."
Queries on Google seem to indicate that the term "SPW-R" refers to the same concept as the acronym "SWR" (a true acronym), but I'll never know, being too impatient to consider the matter further.
It is up to you. I tried to point you to the best of my ability. Let it be known. Anyways, I would appreciate if you removed the downvotes -- there is no good reason you have downvoted my responses to you.
I'm not sure if English is your first language, but giardini's first comment in response to yours does not seem to be in any way "trolling" or "attacking" you. None of his later responses seem to, either. You may want to check yourself, because there was no good reason to accuse him of trolling you. You are the one out of line. You started this with your overly-confrontational attitude.
> Anyways, I would appreciate if you removed the downvotes -- there is no good reason you have downvoted my responses to you.
As for this, obviously somebody thought your responses were inappropriate. I agree with them, and would have done the same if I had the necessary reputation.
Quoting the HN Guidelines:
> Please resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.
I have every right to feel provoked if I believe someone else is intentionally wasting my time. That user, from my point of view, did not seem genuine in his interest in what I had to say.
For what it's worth, at this point, both SPW and SPW-R are commonly used. SPW == Hippocampal sharp waves, SPW-R == Hippocampal sharp wave ripples. Often referred to as just sharp waves or sharp wave ripples.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2039924/
http://neuralcircuits.uwm.edu/sharp-wave-ripples/
In summary, the hippocampus will organize neurons into clumps which encode spatial dimension. As a rat runs around throughout a track, certain groups of neurons fire[1] depending on where the rat is located. Before the task even starts, hippocampal neurons in a rat actually fire in quick succession (e.g. ABCDEFG). When the task is completed, the same pattern fires in the reverse order (e.g. GFEDCBA). Scientists believe that these SPWs play an important role in memory consolidation.
I have always thought of this as "the rat is thinking about where it's going to run to". So I started learning machine learning and landed on things like RBMs. I was so excited because RBMs are reminiscent of this actual phenomenon that occurs in the brain. So, I asked Hinton about it because this is no mere coincidence, and he told me that he had a theory that required reverse order firing during sleep state.
If you get a ton of new memories and patterns during wake, sleep may be responsible for not only pruning less important memories, but strengthening more important memories. For example, sleep might be asking the brain for a ranked list of memories, and then strengthens the memories above some threshold, and prunes the rest (just an idea).
[1] Synchronized firing, see Kuramoto coupled differential equations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuramoto_model