Try It! Essay - How Many Can You Remember?

Chunking is a method of encoding material into memory by arranging the stimuli into meaningful groups. Move your cursor over picture A and look at it for a few seconds, you will probably have trouble remembering how many figures you saw. Now move your cursor over Picture B and look at it for a few seconds too. You should be able to recall now how many figures are there. Although there are as many figures in B as in A, they are grouped, or chunked, in B, and are thus easier to count and remember.

The technique of chunking can be applied to a variety of situations. Below the same technique is demonstrated using numbers. Notice how the long number is easier to remember when it is 'chunked' into groups of smaller numbers.

Now, try using this technique to improve your ability to remember a group of numbers in the digit span memory test below.

After you press start, the computer will present a digit. After a few seconds type it. Then the computer presents 2 digits (original plus new one). Again, after waiting a few seconds, type your response. This process will continue until you make a mistake. It is a measure of digit-span memory. Click your cursor in the Enter box in order to type in the numbers.