Final answer:
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli is known as iconic memory, which lasts only up to a couple of seconds before it's either discarded or moves into short-term memory.
Step-by-step explanation:
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli is called iconic memory. Sensory memory is a storage system that processes incoming sensory information from the environment, including sights, sounds, and tastes. This kind of memory is extremely brief, lasting only up to a couple of seconds. While we continuously receive sensory information, most of it is immediately disregarded unless it's deemed valuable, at which point, it could move into our short-term memory. Sensory memory entails the very initial stage of memory, where information is taken in before it is either quickly discarded or processed further.
Short-term memory, on the other hand, retains information for roughly 15 to 30 seconds and serves as a kind of temporary workspace that manipulates and manages this information. Think of it like the information on your computer screen before you decide to save it to your hard drive or delete it. Sensory memories, like iconic memory, serve as the first step in the memory-processing chain, from which some information makes it to short-term memory and potentially, ultimately to long-term storage.