Different types of memory are stored across different, interconnected brain regions. For explicit memories, which are about events that happened to you (episodic), as well as general facts and information (semantic), there are three important areas of the brain: the hippocampus, the neocortex, and the amygdala. The hippocampus is the catalyst for long-term memory, but the actual memory traces are encoded at various places in the cortex. Short-term working memory relies most heavily on the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal lobe holds information in short-term memory until the hippocampus passes it from short-term to long-term memory.

Therefore, the part of the brain that controls short-term memory is the prefrontal cortex, while the hippocampus and other related structures in the temporal lobe are responsible for long-term memory.