WordNet
n. what you can repeat immediately after perceiving it [syn: STM, immediate memory]
Wikipedia
'''Short-term memory ''' (or "primary" or "active memory") is the capacity for holding, but not manipulating, a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. The duration of short-term memory (when rehearsal or active maintenance is prevented) is believed to be in the order of seconds. The most commonly cited capacity is The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two (which is frequently referred to as Miller's Law.), despite the fact that Miller himself stated that the figure was intended as "little more than a joke" (Miller, 1989, page 401) and that Cowan (2001) provided evidence that a more realistic figure is 4±1. In contrast, long-term memory can hold an indefinite amount of information.
Short-term memory should be distinguished from working memory, which refers to structures and processes used for temporarily storing and manipulating information (see details below).
Usage examples of "short-term memory".
Little Denis had had no trouble penetrating Don's psychic barricade when it was still firm, and he had perceived the name of the drug emblazoned on his father's short-term memory trace as on a lighted theatre marquee.
But nor is it merely a question of simple longish lasting short-term memory, for in the evening when I return to the station in the car I cannot remember where I parked it that morning, whereas if I leave the car at the station for a few days while I go off to a meeting, I can remember where I parked it on my return just as clearly as if it had only been the night before.
Lots of time to disrupt their short-term memory with a heavy stun and get to the lab.
But his short-term memory, to put it plainly, is shot to hell at present.
His scores on cognitive tasks that involve short-term memory--and most of them do--are all well below his norms.
His scores on cognitive tasks that involve short-term memory—.
Illyan's short-term memory and eye for detail were practically nonexistent.
It may be that the left hemisphere is not entirely turned off at night but instead is performing tasks that make it inaccessible to consciousness: it is busily engaged in data dumping from the short-term memory buffer, determining what should survive into long-term storage.
There was something absurd about a creature with no short-term memory bragging up its lightning reflexes.
Left to themselves, they had developed a form of intelligence almost devoid of short-term memory.