  Short-term memory in the brain cannot in general be explained the way
long-term memory can -- as a gradual modification of synaptic weights -- since
it takes place too quickly. Theories based on some form of cellular
bistability, however, do not seem able to account for the fact that noisy
neurons can collectively store information in a robust manner. We show how a
sufficiently clustered network of simple model neurons can be instantly induced
into metastable states capable of retaining information for a short time (a few
seconds). The mechanism is robust to different network topologies and kinds of
neural model. This could constitute a viable means available to the brain for
sensory and/or short-term memory with no need of synaptic learning. Relevant
phenomena described by neurobiology and psychology, such as local
synchronization of synaptic inputs and power-law statistics of forgetting
avalanches, emerge naturally from this mechanism, and we suggest possible
experiments to test its viability in more biological settings.
