August 28, 2026 Dataset Open Access

Neural replay promotes consolidation of a stressful episode but interferes with unrelated recall (Dorok et al.)

Dorok, Fabian; Wittkuhn, Lennart; Schuck, Nicolas W.; Schwabe, Lars

Temporally compressed sequential reactivation of preceding events, known as replay, is thought to support memory formation, but whether it imposes a cost on unrelated mnemonic processes remains unknown. We show that cross-region replay of a stressful episode enhances later memory while interfering with a subsequent recall task relying on the same brain regions. One hundred twenty-five participants underwent a stressful encounter or a control manipulation designed for replay decoding in the MRI scanner, followed by unrelated recall and working-memory tasks. Coordinated replay across visual and medial-temporal areas predicted enhanced memory for the stressful event seven days later, depending on the cortisol response to the stressor. Critically, replay persisted into subsequent unrelated tasks, and impaired medial temporal lobe–dependent recall but not prefrontal cortex-dependent working memory. These findings reshape our understanding of replay, and suggest that replay prioritizes memory formation of stressful episodes at the expense of concurrent mnemonic processes.