Short term memory impairment

What it means

A deficit in the retention of pieces of information (memory chunks) for a relatively short time (usually up to 30 seconds).

The impairment of short term memory (STM) involves forgetting information to which the subject has been recently exposed. An individual with signs of losing STM, indeed, asks for the same questions repeatedly, forgets where he just put something, forgets recent events or something he saw or read recently. The loss of immediate memory is also termed as fixation amnesia. Practically, STM works as a kind of scratchpad for temporary recall of a limited number of data that come from the sensory register and are ready to be processed through attention and recognition. On the other side, information collected in the long term memory (LTM) storage consist of memories for the performance of actions or skills (i.e., procedural memories, knowing how) and memories of facts, rules, concepts, and events (i.e., declarative memories, knowing that).

Rare diseases that can present with this2

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category

Also called: Short term memory loss