Replaying experiences can help future decision making

decision making - Replaying prior experiences when learning something new can improve the brain's ability to make future plans and preserve memories of the past, finds new research by UCL neuroscientists. The study, published in PNAS , used brain imaging techniques to detect activity in the brains of 24 participants, while taking part in a maze task. As part of the experiment, participants were asked to make a series of choices between  shapes in order to reach rewards. Each shape would lead down a different path made up of a sequence of pictures, followed by reward points at the end. The participants' goal was to keep track of the best path, because the reward points at the end changed over time. The results showed that when it was most helpful to think ahead, participants replayed memories of previous experiences before making a choice. Researchers also examined the brain activity of participants during a brief pause after receiving feedback.