Short-Term and Long-term memory

Researchers understand that memory can be subdivided into several components. Short-term memory involves remembering small amounts of information for a period of a few seconds. It is believed that the capacity for short-term memory is to remember 7 items + 2 and the maintenance of this process is dependent on prefrontal cortex. After this time period, memories are consolidated in the hippocampus and there they can be retrieved over long periods of time.