Question

Becci calls her husband, Ted, at his office to ask him to pick up a few things at the store on his way home. She then rattles off a list of twenty-five items. Only after they say good-bye and hang up does Ted write down the list. Ted should be able to remember _____ items without chunking.

Answer 1

Ted should be able to remember around 7±2 items without chunking.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to psychologist George A. Miller's research on human memory capacity, the average person can hold around 7 (±2) items in their working memory without using memory aids or techniques like chunking. Miller's paper, "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information," highlights that the human mind has a limited capacity for immediate recall without employing mnemonic devices.

When Becci lists twenty-five items for Ted, expecting him to recall them accurately, it surpasses the typical limit of immediate memory retention. Without employing memory strategies like chunking (grouping items into meaningful subsets), Ted would struggle to recall more than 7 (±2) items from Becci's list, experiencing difficulty in retaining all twenty-five items without writing them down.

Miller's findings underscore the constraints of short-term memory, suggesting that individuals can retain around 7 (±2) chunks of information. Each "chunk" can represent a single item or a cluster of items that form a meaningful unit in the mind. In Ted's case, the sheer number of items (twenty-five) exceeds the capacity of his immediate memory without using mnemonic techniques.

Hence, to enhance memory retention, Ted might need to resort to strategies such as breaking the list into smaller groups, grouping related items, or creating mental associations to improve his chances of recalling the entire list accurately. Without employing such strategies, Ted would likely struggle to remember all twenty-five items effectively due to the limitations of immediate memory capacity as per Miller's research.

Answer 2

Only after they say good-bye and hang up does Ted write down the list. Ted should be able to remember approximately seven items without chunking.

Step-by-step explanation:

The limit of around seven items without chunking aligns with what is known as Miller's Law in psychology. Psychologist George A. Miller proposed that the average human short-term memory has a limited capacity, often referred to as "Miller's Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two." This suggests that people can typically retain about seven items in their short-term memory before information starts to fade. In the scenario presented, Becci lists twenty-five items, which exceeds the average short-term memory capacity without the use of memory aids or strategies.

Chunking, a cognitive strategy, involves grouping individual pieces of information into larger units or "chunks." By doing so, individuals can improve their ability to recall and remember more information. For instance, if Becci grouped her list into categories or related items, Ted could potentially remember more than seven items by relying on chunking.