Final answer:
The capacity of short-term memory is about five to nine meaningful pieces of information, as per Miller's Law. Recent studies indicate a capacity closer to 4 plus or minus 1. This memory holds information briefly before it is stored long-term or forgotten.
Step-by-step explanation:
The capacity of short-term memory is generally agreed to be about five to nine meaningful pieces of information. This concept stems from George Miller's 1956 study, where he concluded that short-term memory typically handles 7, plus or minus 2 items, also known as Miller's Law. However, it's worth noting that more recent research has suggested that the working memory capacity might be slightly less, around 4 plus or minus 1, according to Cowan (2010). Short-term memory enables the retention of information for a brief time, much like the information currently displayed on a computer screen. If this information is not further processed or rehearsed, it tends to be lost due to transience or may get stored into long-term memory for future retrieval. The inclination to recall numbers better than letters and acoustic information over visual stimuli also plays a role in the effectiveness of short-term memory encoding.