Final answer:
Sensory memory is responsible for the brief storage of sensory information, lasting only milliseconds to a few seconds, which is why details seen while driving to school are quickly forgotten unless deemed valuable and moved into short-term memory.
Step-by-step explanation:
As you are driving to school, you see many things, but you don't remember them for very long because sensory memory only lasts milliseconds to a few seconds. Sensory memory is the initial stage of memory, where sensory information from our environment is stored very briefly. It allows us to take in a vast amount of sensory data, but we retain only a small amount of this information, which is why most fleeting details are not remembered long-term. When sensory information is perceived as valuable, it moves into our short-term memory where it can be actively worked with.