The Temporal Signature of Memories: Identification of a General Mechanism for Dynamic Memory Replay in Humans

Reinstatement of dynamic memories requires the replay of neural patterns that unfold over time in a similar manner as during perception. however,little is known about the mechanisms that guide such a temporally structured replay in humans,because previous studies used either unsuitable methods or paradigms to address this question. here,we overcome these limitations by developing a new analysis method to detect the replay of temporal patterns in a paradigm that requires participants to mentally replay short sound or video clips. we show that memory reinstatement is accompanied by a decrease of low-frequency (8 hz) power,which carries a temporal phase signature of the replayed stimulus. these replay effects were evident in the visual as well as in the auditory domain and were localized to sensory-specific regions. these results suggest low-frequency phase to be a domain-general mechanism that orchestrates dynamic memory replay in humans. © 2016 michelmann et al.