Do memories consolidate to persist or do they persist to consolidate?
Memories are believed to be initially and temporarily stored in the hippocampus and later transferred to the cortex for persistent storage during a process named system consolidation. Alternatively, the cortex may also have a crucial role in the initial steps of memory formation and the hippocampus may not be disengaged from memory processing as early as it has been originally proposed. Here we review earlier and recent studies and hypotheses that address the nature of long-term memory storage.
Medina
Jorge H
JH
Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencias, Facultad de Medicina, UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina. jmedina@fmed.uba.ar
Bekinschtein
Pedro
P
Cammarota
Martín
M
Izquierdo
Iván
I
D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate