After a memory is retrieved, it becomes fragile again. Thus before it is put back into long-term memory it must be consolidated once again.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- Synaptic consolidation (late-phase long-term potentiation)
- Systems consolidation
- Reconsolidation

Memory consolidation processes

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Nelson Education.


Takes minutes or hours and causes structural changes to the synapses.

Takes months or years and is the gradual restructuring of neural circuits in the brain.