Where does consolidation collide?

The process that stabilizes a newly formed memory over time, turning a fragile initial trace into a lasting one. It works at more than one level: synaptic consolidation fixes changes at the connections between neurons within minutes to hours, while systems consolidation slowly reorganizes a memory so that it depends less on the hippocampus and more on the cortex over days to years. When a stored memory is retrieved it can become briefly unstable again and has to be restabilized, a step called reconsolidation. Dudai's 2004 review The Neurobiology of Consolidations set out these processes and the debate over whether consolidation happens once or is renewed each time a memory is used. The referent is a change inside a nervous system that makes a memory last, not a merger of accounts, a maturing democracy, or clay settling under a building.[1][2]

Unit

A newly formed memory made durable, over minutes to years

Recovery means

On retrieval a consolidated memory can return to a labile state and must be reconsolidated to persist

Measured by

Inferred from retention tests and from disrupting or protecting a memory with drugs, lesions, or timed interference

The process by which a new democracy becomes stable and widely accepted, so that its rules are taken for granted as the only legitimate way to gain and hold power. Linz and Stepan described a consolidated democracy as one in which democracy has become the only game in town, accepted in behavior, in attitude, and in the constitution by all significant actors. Their 1996 article Toward Consolidated Democracies laid out the conditions, from a working state to the rule of law, under which this settling can occur. Consolidation, in this usage, is a property of a political order, judged by how firmly democratic institutions are entrenched. The referent is the entrenchment of a regime, not the stabilizing of a memory, the merging of accounts, or the compression of a soil layer.[3]

Unit

A democratic regime's degree of stable, taken-for-granted acceptance

Recovery means

Not fixed; consolidation can erode if major actors stop accepting democratic rules

Measured by

Assessed by whether significant actors accept democratic rules in behavior, in attitude, and in the constitution

The gradual reduction in the volume of a saturated soil under a sustained load as water is slowly squeezed out of the pore spaces between the grains. When a load is placed on a clay, the pressure is at first carried by the pore water, and settlement proceeds over time as that water drains away and the load transfers to the soil skeleton. Terzaghi's classical theory treated this as one-dimensional flow governed by a diffusion equation, and Gibson, England, and Hussey's 1967 paper The Theory of One-Dimensional Consolidation of Saturated Clays placed the theory on a more general footing. Engineers use it to predict how much a foundation will settle and how quickly. The referent is a physical change in a body of soil, not a memory being fixed, financial statements being combined, or a democracy taking hold.[4]

Unit

A soil layer's decrease in volume under load, over time

Recovery means

Largely permanent; only a small elastic rebound occurs if the load is later removed

Measured by

Measured in an oedometer test and predicted from the coefficient of consolidation and the length of the drainage path