Memory is the ability to encode, store, and recall information. In animals, this occurs in a brain or brain-like process. In computers, this occurs on a device like a hard drive or RAM chip.
In humans, as in many other animals, there is short-term and long-term memory. Short-term memory is working memory, and information stored there lasts for a few seconds to a few minutes. To be saved, information must pass from short-term to long-term memory.
In computers, short-term memory is volatile memory like RAM and long-term memory is non-volatile like hard drive or flash memory.
References
Fast Facts
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Fact:
The average human can only recall 5-9 numbers from short-term memory
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Fact:
Odors can be associated with animal memories to improve their recall
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Fact:
In the mammalian brain, the amygdala is responsible for spatial learning
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Fact:
It takes up to a half-second for sensory memory to begin, once something has been perceived
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Fact:
It's estimated that computer memory is about 10,000 times more powerful in humans than the average desktop computer in 2009.
