Memory reactivations during sleep: a neural basis of dream experiences?
March 6, 2023 Claudia Picard-Deland, Giulio Bernardi, Lisa Genzel et al. 2 citations preprint
Memory traces formed during waking hours are spontaneously reactivated during sleep, a phenomenon first observed in the 1990s that has been proposed as the neural basis for dreaming. Recent animal and human studies, along with advances in sleep and dream engineering, show both similarities and differences between memory reactivations and dream experiences. The authors argue that memory reactivations may influence subjective experiences across various states of consciousness but are unlikely to be directly experienced as dreams. They highlight shortcomings in current research methods and propose new approaches to empirically investigate the relationship between memory reactivation and dreaming.