Memories Are Played Back at Super High-Speed When We're Learning New Skills
Our incredible powers of learning are such a defining part of being human, yet we still don't fully understand how our brains absorb new skills.
Powerful modern imaging techniques, allowing us to look more closely at how memory consolidation works, have just highlighted the importance of wakeful rest in the learning process.
Researchers have been aware since 1885 that resting between practice enhances memorization when learning new skills. Now, scientists have witnessed that our brains rapidly replay new memories during such restful pauses when we're performing a new activity, and the replays happen up to 20 times faster than the physical act of practicing the activity.
"This is the first demonstration of wakeful neural replay of a newly learned skill elicited by practice in humans," said neurologist Leonardo G. Cohen from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
We've known for some time how sleeping plays a critical role in the physiology of memory consolidation, stabilizing (or possibly switching between) a memory as it moves from short-term to long-term storage.
