Short-term memory

Short term memory is memory for recent events that doesn't last long and is only random. This is the part of the memory that remembers what was said two minutes earlier, or whether someone has added sugar to a cup of tea.

Some short-term memories--such as part of a conversation--become part of long-term memory, but many vanish quickly, perhaps because there is no value to keeping them.

A variety of conditions, including simple aging, can diminish or destroy short-term memory, while leaving long-term memory intact.

One of pioneers of short-term memory research is George A. Miller[?], who wrote the classic article The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two (http://www.well.com/user/smalin/miller.html).

See also: amnesia