Mechanisms and Functions of Hippocampal Memory Reconsolidation

Memory reconsolidation is the process that serves to restabilize a memory that has been destabilized through memory retrieval. This retrieval-induced plasticity has been extensively studied in the hippocampus, among other neural loci. A focus on hippocampal memory reconsolidation, for contextual fear, pure contextual, and spatial memories, reveals interesting constraints on when a retrieved memory undergoes reconsolidation. Moreover, the emergence of dissociable mechanisms of hippocampal contextual fear memory consolidation and reconsolidation has allowed the demonstration that reconsolidation serves to update both the strength and the content of hippocampal memories. This provides compelling evidence that, at least in the hippocampus, reconsolidation exists in order to modify memories. However, whether or not these hippocampal findings can be generalized to nonhippocampal memories remains to be determined.