"Consolidation is inhibited
by reversible, intracortical antagonism of NMDA
receptors (NMDARs) or cAMP-dependent protein
kinase (PKA) during post-MD sleep."[1]
So they found a clue: they banged the system with a well-chosen hammer and saw a perturbation. Many other hammers could perturb the system similarly; how the system works has yet to be determined.
From the paper's abstract:
"Consolidation is inhibited by reversible, intracortical antagonism of NMDA receptors (NMDARs) or cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) during post-MD sleep."[1]
So they found a clue: they banged the system with a well-chosen hammer and saw a perturbation. Many other hammers could perturb the system similarly; how the system works has yet to be determined.
[1] "MD" = monocular deprivation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocular_dominance_column