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

Google last week announced a new compression algorithm called TurboQuant, which they say can shrink the amount of short-term memory that an AI model uses by at least six times.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

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

Their short-term memory deteriorated, as did their spatial awareness.

From BBC • Jan. 12, 2026

By the end of kindergarten, children who were randomly selected through a lottery to attend Montessori preschools outperformed their peers in reading, executive function, short-term memory, and social understanding.

From Science Daily • Jan. 1, 2026

“Would you be interested in coming to see him? If it’s a good day, he can be quite talkative. It’s really his short-term memory that is lacking, but he may remember your mom.”

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen