Human brains use dreams to replay recent events and help form memories, study finds

Human brains use dreams to replay recent events and help form memories -- and experts have gotten the first glimpse of this process in action, a study has reported. When we sleep, our brains replay the firing patterns our neurons underwent while awake -- a process that experts refer to as'offline replay'. It is thought that offline replay underlies so-called memory consolidation, the way that recent memories acquire a more permanent representation in the brain. Although replay had previously been observed in animals, it had not be witnessed before in humans. Using implanted electrodes, US researchers were able to show that people's brains replayed the neuron activity of a memory game while they slept.