Thalamocortical Assemblies: Sleep Spindles, Slow Waves and Epileptic Discharges - Paperbackby Alain Destexhe (Author), Terrence Sejknowski (Author) During sleep, the mammalian brain generates an orderly progression of low frequency oscillations as the brain moves from sleep onset into deep sleep. This book explores the underlying neural mechanisms involved in generating these oscillations through interacting neural assemblies in the thalamus and the cortex. Sleep spindles are involved in the consolidation of experiences in long term memory