Why does vivid memory 'feel so real?' Real perceptual experience, mental replay share similar brain activation patterns
Neuroscientists have found strong evidence that vivid memory and directly experiencing the real moment can trigger similar brain activation patterns. The study, led by Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute (RRI), in collaboration with the University of Texas at Dallas, is one of the most ambitious and complex yet for elucidating the brain’s ability to evoke a memory by reactivating the parts of the brain that were engaged during the original perceptual experience. Researchers found that vivid memory and real perceptual experience share “striking” similarities at the neural level, although they are not “pixel-perfect” brain pattern replications. The study appears online this month in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, ahead of print publication.
