Types of Memory: Sensory, Short-term, and Long-term

Sensory memory

a quick, fleeting memory that is activated by the senses.

Short-term/working memory

activated memory that holds a few items (on the average 7) for a brief time (usually 30 seconds) before the information is stored or forgotten. Located in the frontal lobe.

Long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system that includes knowledge, skills and experiences.

Working memory

a newer understanding of Atkinson and Shiffrin's second stage of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

Iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

Echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.

Explicit memory

memories of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and 'declare', such as telling about a vacation or giving directions. Also called declarative memory. Goes through the hippocampus.

Implicit memory

procedural, how-to memory that you don't have to think about, it's independent of conscious recollection. Also called nondeclarative.