Watching the way rat brains replay their memories forward and backward while making a decision let researchers predict what it would decide.

The researchers found that specific patterns of brain cell firings in rats correspond to individual memories. As a result, the researchers could tell what the rodents were remembering during an experiment. They also found a way to predict what the animals would do next.

During sleep, the brain replays each memory from the day in a unique pattern of brain cell firings. The activation of a pattern essentially creates a recording of the memory so it can be stored for the long term. This process, called memory consolidation, occurs while we’re awake, too.

— Read on www.futurity.org/memory-consolidation-brains-decisions-2229542/