Memory reconsolidation: an update

Memory consolidation refers to the stabilization that a new memory has to undergo in order to persist. Recently, this dominant view of memory has been challenged by renewed interest in reconsolidation, where consolidated memories return to a transient unstable state following their retrieval, from which they must again stabilize in order to persist. In this review, we discuss how reconsolidation is supported by the same line of evidence as consolidation and recent findings of boundary conditions of reconsolidation. Furthermore, we discuss how recent controversies on the nature of amnesia following challenges to reconsolidation are using the same paradigm that failed to resolve the nature of amnesia after challenges to consolidation; we also discuss a new paradigm that can lead to more fruitful ways of studying amnesia in general.