diff --git a/Lib/_pyrepl/reader.py b/Lib/_pyrepl/reader.py
index 54bd1ea0222a60f..c4754fc444ccd41 100644
--- a/Lib/_pyrepl/reader.py
+++ b/Lib/_pyrepl/reader.py
@@ -143,8 +143,8 @@ def make_default_commands() -> dict[CommandName, type[Command]]:
     + [(c, "self-insert") for c in map(chr, range(32, 127)) if c != "\\"]
     + [(c, "self-insert") for c in map(chr, range(128, 256)) if c.isalpha()]
     + [
-        (r"\<up>", "up"),
-        (r"\<down>", "down"),
+        (r"\<up>", "history-search-backward"),
+        (r"\<down>", "history-search-forward"),
         (r"\<left>", "left"),
         (r"\C-\<left>", "backward-word"),
         (r"\<right>", "right"),