Chunking
The concept of chunking (in German sometimes loosely translated as "bundling") was founded in 1956 by George A. Miller introduced. The Chunking- hypothesis includes statements of the scope of the short-term memory span, the Miller 7 ± 2 is chunks and is genetically determined.
The specific content of individual chunks is seen as insignificant for short-term retention. As a result, the memory span - regardless of stimulus materials such as binary numbers , decimal numbers , letters or words - is around five to nine chunks, while the information content (bits) of these materials can be very different.
For example, the following combination of letters is difficult to learn: BYGROUPINGITEMSINTOUNITSWEREMEMBERBETTER. In order to make the learning process easier, we break this word network down into individual chunks: BY GROUPING ITEMS INTO UNITS WE REMEMBER BETTER. We now have eight chunks and are able to memorize this sentence or the initial set of words better.
However, recent work shows that the memory span is stimulus- dependent. For example, it is greater for words than for non-words (Hulme et al. 1997). Miller's classic paper is historically significant because the results of his investigations show that measures of information theoretical psychology are not applicable to the measurement of short-term memory span.
Studies by the University of Missouri (2001) suggest that the short-term memory capacity is significantly lower than Miller assumed. Accordingly, you should assume 3 to 4 chunks. The question arises whether the term chunking should continue to be used, as it is associated with the number 7 ± 2.
See also
literature
Web links
- Chunks - storage units in learning processes
- Science Daily - Psychologists Demonstrate Simplicity Of Working Memory
Individual evidence
- ^ The magical number 4 in short-term memory: a reconsideration of mental storage capacity. - Semantic Scholar. Retrieved December 10, 2017 (American English).