The Role of Short-term Consolidation in Memory Persistence

Abstract

Short-term memory, often described as working memory, is one of the most fundamental information processing systems of the human brain. Short-term memory function is necessary for language, spatial navigation, problem solving, and many other daily activities. Given its importance to cognitive function, understanding the architecture of short-term memory is of crucial importance to understanding human behavior. Recent work from several laboratories investigating the entry of information into short-term memory has uncovered a dissociation between encoding processes, those that register information into short-term memory, and consolidation processes, those that solidify the representation within short-term memory. Here I describe the key differences between short-term encoding and consolidation and briefly review what is known about the short-term consolidation process itself. Cognitive function, plausible neural instantiation, and open questions are addressed.

Keywords

• short-term memory
• working memory
• consolidation
• encoding
• forgetting