short-term memory

American  

noun

1. information retained in the brain and retrievable from it over a brief span of time (contrasted with long-term memory).

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short-term memory British  

noun

1. psychol that section of the memory storage system of limited capacity (approximately seven items) that is capable of storing material for a brief period of time Compare long-term memory

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short-term memory Cultural  

1. Retention of information that undergoes little processing or interpretation and can be recalled for only a few seconds. Short-term memory can retain about seven items.

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A popular example of short-term memory is the ability to remember a seven-digit telephone number just long enough to dial a call. In most cases, unless the number is consciously repeated several times, it will be forgotten.

Etymology

Origin of short-term memory

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

TurboQuant is an algorithm designed to address bottlenecks in the key-value cache, which Google describes as a “digital cheat sheet,” effectively acting as the short-term memory for an artificial-intelligence model.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

Since a stroke damaged his short-term memory, Stellan receives prompts through an earpiece on set.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026

In the transformer, short-term memory and long-term memory are organized in an incompatible manner, with no clear way to transfer from short-term memory to long-term memory, according to Stamirowska.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 1, 2025

For many years, researchers focused on two primary memory centers: the hippocampus, which supports short-term memory, and the cortex, which was believed to store long-term memories.

From Science Daily • Nov. 30, 2025

While a Stamitz mini-tune might be made up of a handful of notes, Haydn extended the phrase, testing the short-term memory of his listener, then coaxed a slightly altered or ornamented second phrase from it.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall