Sleeping is also learning? For the first time, scientists have directly demonstrated that the brain "replays" learning content while sleeping.

▎ when we sleep, our brains are not simply "offline", but busy consolidating newly formed memories.in a study recently published in cell reports, a well-known academic journal of cell, scientists observed the process of brain "memory reappearance" during sleep with the help of advanced brain computer interface technology.the researchers say this is the first time there is direct evidence that the human brain replays waking experiences while sleeping.in the past, memory scientists have observed through animal experiments that the neural firing patterns during waking can be "played back offline" during animal sleep. This process is considered as a potential basis for memory consolidation, making newly acquired memories permanent.however, in humans, some neuroimaging studies provide indirect evidence that learning related brain activity is reactivated during sleep.with technological changes, cutting-edge BCI technologies now give us an opportunity to really examine what happens to the human brain during waking and sleeping.some scientific research teams are committed to developing electrodes that can be implanted into the human brain for a long time, allowing the computer to "decode" neural signals in real time and recognize the intention of the brain to move the limbs, so as to realize the operation of computer cursors, mechanical arms and other external auxiliary devices with ideas.this BCI will help improve the quality of life of people with severe dyskinesia due to disease or trauma (such as stroke, spinal cord injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).Image Source: two subjects of 123rf participated in the BCI pilot clinical trial and implanted special microelectrode arrays in the cerebral motor cortex.each electrode is small enough to record the firing activity of a single neuron in detail.the participants were asked to play a memory test game.the basic rule of the game is that the four color blocks on the screen light up in different order, and then let the player click in the same order.however, the subjects did not really move their fingers, but played with "ideas", imagining their hands moving the cursor and clicking on the right color blocks in sequence as quickly as possible.after playing for a while, the subjects took a nap for 20 or 30 minutes.wake up and play again, then go to bed again.} videos of subjects playing games (video source: reference [1]). After analyzing the neural signals collected by electrodes, the team observed that these brain neurons of subjects had the same discharge pattern during game time and sleep rest time after game.in other words, it's like the brain continues to play the memory test game just now after the subject is asleep, playing it back at the neuron level."this is the first direct evidence that we can also see the playback phenomenon that helps consolidate memory during the rest period after learning. Dr. beata jarosiewicz, CO lead author of the study, said, "we have studied memory consolidation mechanisms related to playback in animals for decades, and it seems likely that this mechanism can also be applied to humans."} in the next step, the researchers plan to look for new experimental evidence and continue to explore whether playback plays a causal role in memory consolidation, including testing the strength of playback and whether it is related to the recall intensity after a nap.how learning and memory consolidation happen has always been a fascinating puzzle.however, a series of animal and human studies have shown that sleep plays a crucial role.in the words of Dr. jarosiewicz, a good sleep "before an exam and before an important interview" is conducive to improving cognitive ability. "We have sufficient scientific evidence that sleep is very important in these processes."-- of course, you'd better not sleep in class.Title: 123rf reference: [1] Jean Baptiste eichenlaub et al., (2020) replay of learned neural firing sequences during rest in human motor cortex. Cell reports. Doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.107581 [2] evidence that human brains replay our walking experiences while we sleep. Retrieved May 6, 2020, from