Short Term Memory and Chunking

Dr. Anthony conducted an experiment on the whole class today. He read out numbers starting from 3 digits to twelve digits. Students had to attempt to remember each set of digits and write them on a piece of paper. The class in average remembered 7 digits, but I only remembered 5.

The average human is also able to store about 7 digits in their short term memory. The experiment the teacher has just conducted supports this statistic.

Generally individuals may device ways of memorizing digits. One way is through "chunking", or the splitting of digits from a list of them. Chunking creates a rhythm or pattern in pronounciation. Generally, a pattern in pronounciation is easier to remember than having none.

To prove this point, Dr. Anthony repeated sixteen digits, but this time using the chunking technique. A student recited all sixteen digits without hesitation or guessing.