Short-term memory

A system for temporarily storing and managing information required to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension.

Short-term memory is involved in the selection, initiation, and termination of information-processing functions such as encoding, storing, and retrieving data.</P> One test of short-term memory is memory span, the number of items, usually words or numbers, that a person can hold onto and recall.

In a typical test of memory span, an examiner reads a list of random numbers aloud at about the rate of one number per second.

At the end of a sequence, the person being tested is asked to recall the items in order.

The average memory span for normal adults is 7.</P> Short-term memory is also termed recent or working memory.