The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information

George A. Miller's influential 1956 paper, "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two," explored the limits of human short-term memory and information processing. Miller proposed that the average person can hold approximately seven units of information, with a variation of plus or minus two (ranging from five to nine items), in their short-term memory at any given time.12

This concept is closely related to "chunking," a strategy where individual pieces of information are grouped into larger, more manageable units. For example, a string of numbers can be chunked into meaningful dates or phone number segments, making them easier to recall. This process of recoding information is crucial for overcoming the limitations of short-term memory and plays a significant role in learning and cognitive tasks.3421