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Reconsolidation: Turning consciousness into memory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Mark Solms
Mark Solms*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. [email protected]
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Abstract

The purpose of learning is not to maintain records but to generate predictions. Successful predictions remain implicit; only prediction errors (“surprises”) attract consciousness. This is what Freud had in mind when he declared that “consciousness arises instead of a memory-trace.” The aim of reconsolidation, and of psychotherapy, is to improve predictions about how to meet our needs in the world.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 38 , 2015 , e24
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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