The brain replays the wakefulness experience during sleep — direct evidence

By Team

Our brain does not go into “standby” mode during sleep — it organizes new long-term memories. By now, scientists have received reliable evidence that the replication of the experience gained on the eve continues during rest as well. For this, microelectrodes were used, and signals were received from two volunteers as part of a clinical trial of the “brain-computer” interface, designed for people with disabilities.

The report was published by Cell Press. Researchers have declared the "first direct confirmation" that the brain "replays" the experiences received on the eve during sleep. Reliable data was obtained thanks to intracortical microelectrode matrices intended for recording neural potentials. Previously, the equipment did not allow recording such data - the electrodes used to treat epilepsy or Parkinson's disease, for example, were too large.

In fact, during sleep, an "autonomous simulation" of nervous irritation occurs, which is more common for the wakeful period. This is important for brain health, since replication is the basis for consolidating long-term memory. During this process, important memories form more stable neural connections.

Two participants went to bed before and after playing the Simon simulator. It featured four color panels with a random set of playback sequences. The players were asked to mentally repeat the combinations suggested by the computer as quickly as possible by moving the cursor. During the game and sleep sessions, scientists recorded indicators of brain activity. It turned out that the indicators of the launch of neurons are almost identical in both cases. The participants seemed to continue to play, although they were already asleep.

Previously, similar results were obtained with animals, especially with rodents. At night, they continued to “run” along the path traveled during the day, which was recorded by the equipment. For this, cortical neurons, previously considered inactive during the propagation of delta waves, were involved.

The results of these studies are partly used by the Hypnopedia application. If on the eve, say, before going to bed, you repeated the inspirational statement several times, and then additionally heard it at night (without waking up), then the same process of reactivation of memories by the brain occurs. In other words, the information begins to be perceived as important and as a result can influence your daily behavior. With regular repetition, you will fix the motivating mindset in your subconscious. Try it now:

The next step will be the search for evidence that autonomous simulation plays a key role in the process of consolidating and maintaining bright memory. One way to do this is to check if there is a connection between intensity of simulation and memory strength after sleep.

Based on materials from cell.com