Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

A hippocampal phenomenon known as the sharp wave is correlated with a cell firing pattern that recapitulates an earlier cell firing pattern. The earlier cell firing pattern is driven by external stimuli while the recapitulative cell firing arises spontaneously from within the hippocampus. We postulate that the sharp wave associated cell firing that occurs in the awake state provides the basis for several well-known phenomena that involve self remindings. The hypothesis explains the resolution of cognitive impasses by hypothesizing an explicit, localized, internal mechanism that reminds one of an initially unsuccessful memory retrieval. Combining this hypothesis with ideas expressed by others provides a two-fold view of sharp wave associated cell firing: Recapitulative cell firing (1) mediates the consolidation of intermediate hippocampal memory into long-term neocortical memory during slow wave sleep, and (2) drives implicit (unconscious) neocortical reprocessing of unresolved issues.