Dudai (2004)

The Neurobiology of Consolidations, Or, How Stable is the Engram?

Annual Review of Psychology, 55(1), 51-86

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Abstract

Consolidation is the progressive postacquisition stabilization of long-term memory. The term is commonly used to refer to two types of processes: synaptic consolidation, which is accomplished within the first minutes to hours after learning and occurs in all memory systems studied so far; and system consolidation, which takes much longer, and in which memories that are initially dependent upon the hippocampus undergo reorganization and may become hippocampal-independent. The textbook account of consolidation is that for any item in memory, consolidation starts and ends just once. Recently, a heated debate has been revitalized on whether this is indeed the case, or, alternatively, whether memories become labile and must undergo some form of renewed consolidation every time they are activated. This debate focuses attention on fundamental issues concerning the nature of the memory trace, its maturation, persistence, retrievability, and modifiability.

Reference

Dudai, Y. (2004). The neurobiology of consolidations, or, how stable is the engram? Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 51-86.

What Rests on This

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Consolidation Memory Processes

Definition

The term covers two processes: synaptic consolidation, completed within minutes to hours in every memory system studied, and systems consolidation, a slower reorganization in which memories that first depend on the hippocampus may become hippocampus-independent