Short-term memory is supported by transient patterns of neuronal communication, dependent on regions of the frontal lobe (especially dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and the parietal lobe. Long-term memory, on the other hand, is maintained by more stable and permanent changes in neural connections widely spread throughout the brain. The <answer>hippocampus</answer> is essential (for learning new information) to the consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory, although it does not seem to store information itself. Without the <answer>hippocampus</answer>, new memories are unable to be stored into long-term memory, as learned from patient Henry Molaison after removal of both his hippocampi, and there will be a very short attention span. Furthermore, it may be involved in changing neural connections for a period of three months or more after the initial learning.
Which part of the brain does long-term memory rely on?
hippocampus