ABSTRACT
The concept of memory consolidation—the idea that memory changes with the passage of time after learning—has been discussed and debated throughout this century in the disciplines of experimental psychology, physiological psychology, and neuropsychology. What is striking about these various inquiries is that each has had its own developmental history and that there has seldom been good correspondence among the disciplines in how memory consolidation should be viewed. It will be our contention here that converging evidence from all three disciplines now permits a new and coherent view of memory consolidation. This chapter presents evidence that memory changes for a long time after learning and describes a new framework in which the concept of memory consolidation can be placed.
