What Is the Capacity of Short-Term Memory?

Short-term memory is a type of memory. Compared with long-term memory, short-term memory stores information for a shorter period of time, and the storage capacity of information is also very limited.

Short-term memory

Short-term memory is a type of memory. versus

Short-term and long-term memory

The information in the short-term memory is kept for a short time and the capacity is limited. At this time, if a new memory activity is inserted, the information exceeds the capacity, or it is not repeated, the information will quickly decline and be forgotten, and cannot be recovered. But if it is repeated, the weak information that is about to disappear can be strengthened again, become clear and stable, and then can be transferred to long-term memory to maintain after fine repetition. Therefore, retelling is the key to transferring information from short-term memory into long-term memory.

Short-term memory has important application value. For example, a typist looks at a manuscript and types, and a translator hears and translates, relying on short-term memory functions to operate. After that, there was no need to keep it, and it was quickly forgotten.