Role of memory re-evocation: Evolution of the what-where-when memory during long-term consolidation

Models of long-term consolidation suggest that memories, richly contextualized and fit for revival in their original form, become more generic over time, losing the particular occurrence of the event. However, this transition from an episodic nature to a semantic nature (i.e., semantization) spares certain memories which can be relived decades later as vividly as on the first day. The multi-trace model (Nadel & Moscovitch, 1997) assumes that the re-evocation of a memory preserves it from semantization, contrary to the standard model (Alvarez & Squire, 1994) which postulates that the re-evocation leads to the semantization of memories.