Resonating with perception is short term memory. (This is the pattern completion mentioned above) These traces decay rapidly, depending on the number of maps and subcortical structures that form your current conscious perception of “now;” a few seconds to a few minutes.
The circulation from highest level of the hierarchy (temporal lobe), through subcortex, out to the forbrain, and projections from the forbrain back to the sensor hierarchy form the basic loop of consciousness. The reverberating/recirculating structure holds the contents of “now.” Each pass though this loop reinforces/refreshes the contents of consciousness.
The key to longer term memory is the registration in the EC/HC complex. Until the conscious perception is captured by the EC/HC it is the effervescent now.