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.