medium · GRE Verbal
Passage: In studies of memory, the word 'consolidation' names the process by which a labile new trace is stabilized into durable long-term storage. But a second, less intuitive sense has emerged. Each time a consolidated memory is retrieved, it appears to become briefly labile again, requiring a further round of stabilization to persist—a phenomenon termed reconsolidation. The implication unsettles the archival image of memory: recall is not a passive reading of a fixed record but an act that reopens the record to revision. A memory summoned is a memory momentarily at risk, and what returns to storage may differ subtly from what was withdrawn. In the context of the passage, the word 'labile' most nearly means:
- Permanently erased
- Susceptible to change
- Deliberately fabricated
- Emotionally intense
- Precisely archived
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