What+is+Short+Term+Memory?

Short Term Memory (STM) is the limited capacity of holding information in an active readily available state. It is one of the three memory systems, the other two being Long Term Memory (LTM) and Working Memory (WM).

Miller (1956) was the first to quantify STM capacity. He postulated that STM capacity is seven plus or minus two items. Later, Miller admitted that this finding was just a number he recorded, as he could not explain the phenomenon of STM capacity (Cowan, 2008). Experiments then stemmed from Miller (1956) to disprove the magically number he described.

Advancements in technology has enabled fMRI images to be produced to highlight areas within the brain that get stimulated during STM testing. Areas known to be associated with STM include the parietal lobe, hippocampus, basal ganglia and temporal lobe.

The characteristics that are unique to STM are chunking and decay. Two recent experiments performed by Alvarez & Cavanagh (2008) and Galster //et al.// (2009) postulate on what sort of information gets stored in our STM.