How sleep helps us adapt our memories for future experiences.
Sleep helps to strengthen both old and new versions of an experience, new research shows.
Instead of overwriting old versions of a memory, the brain stores another copy of the same experience.
Sleep keeps both old and new memories alive, which gives memory more flexibility.
Dr Scott Cairney, who led the research said:
Read original article“Previous studies have shown sleep’s importance for memory.
Our research takes this a step further by demonstrating that sleep strengthens both old and new versions of an experience, helping us to use our memories adaptively.
In this way, sleep is allowing us to use our memory in the most efficient way possible, enabling us to update our knowledge of the world and to adapt our memories for future experiences.”


