article_snippet.sent: students believe the memory neurons that are responsible for converting short-term memories into long-term ones, work most effectively when a person is asleep.
article_snippet.sent: Scientists have long known that sleep, memory and learning are deeply connected.
article_snippet.sent: Most animals, from flies to humans, have trouble remembering when Most animals, from flies to humans are sleep-deprived.
article_snippet.sent: And studies have shown that sleep is critical in converting short-term memories, into long-term memory, a process known as memory consolidation.
article_snippet.sent: One body of thinking questions whether the mechanism that promotes sleep is also responsible for consolidating memory.
article_snippet.sent: In other words, is memory consolidated during sleep because the brain is quiet, allowing memory neurons to go to work, or are memory neurons actually putting us to sleep?
article_snippet.sent: Understanding how sleep and memory are connected in a simple system, like fruit flies, can help scientists unravel the secrets of the human brain. '
article_snippet.sent: Knowing that sleep and memory overlap in the fly brain can allow researchers to narrow researchers search in humans,' Ms Christmann said. '
article_snippet.sent: Eventually, it could help our figure out how sleep or memory is affected when things go wrong, as in the case of insomnia or memory disorders.'
highlights_snippet.sent: Memory neurons that covert short-term memory to long-term work most effectively when a person is asleep, scientists believe .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Brandeis University scientists believe memory neurons put us to sleep .
  