A short commentary by the great Anna Gillespie on awake replay:
Ruminating on replay during the awake state
#GillespieLab (https://www.gillespie-lab.com/)
Interesting bits:
"replay during sleep is generally thought to occur in the forward direction"
I believe this is true too, but has anyone actually analyzed it? It could be done on several existing datasets...
"The idea that awake replay might serve a planning role was broadly adopted by the field, even though direct experimental evidence [...] has been slow to emerge"
YES because replay is not related to immediate planning, however nice it would be if it was
"We, as a field, also need to be more precise with our terminology. For instance, what exactly should we consider evidence of ‘planning’ or ‘deliberation’ in an animal model? "
YES
Related: history of the 'genesis' of #ThetaSequences narrated in this retrospective by @adredish: Mental Time Travel: A Retrospective
(original post:
https://neuromatch.social/@adredish/113662497894186335) #RedishLab
I'd actually argue that replay, and not theta sequences, might be closer to mental time-travel... but we probably don't know enough about either to be sure yet!