8/7/2019 Chunking mnemonic memory technique

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Chunking mnemonic memory technique

Chunking is a technique used when remembering numbers, although the idea can be used

for remembering other things as well. It is based on the idea that short-term memory islimited in the number of things that can be contained. A common rule is that a person can

remember 7 (plus or minus 2) "items" in short-term memory. In other words, people canremember between 5 and 9 things at one time. You may notice that local telephonenumbers have 7 digits. This is convenient because it is the average amount of numbers

that a person can keep in his or her mind at one time.

When you use "chunking" to remember, you decrease the number of items you are

holding in memory by increasing the size of each item. In remembering the number string64831996, you could try to remember each number individually, or you could try

thinking about the string as 64 83 19 96 (creating "chunks" of numbers). This breaks the

group into a smaller number of "chunks." Instead of remembering 8 individual numbers,you are remembering four larger numbers. This is particularly helpful when you form

"chunks" that are meaningful or familiar to you (in this case, the last four numbers in theseries are "1996," which can easily be remembered as one chunk of information).

Practice your skills with examples in the comfort and privacy of your own home and atyour own pace. The Memory games refers to a family of science-based memory training

These unique and highly interactive memory training programs help users improve their

memory skills by eliminating the three most common reasons for memory training. Many

people who want to improve their memory fail to take action because most traditionalmemory training programs are classroom or seminar-based and typically involve many

people.

Chunking

Chunking is the process with which we can expand our ability to remember things in the

short term. Chunking is also a process by which a person organizes material into

meaningful groups. Although the average person may only retain about four different

units in short-term memory, chunking can greatly increase a person's recall capacity. Forexample, in recalling a phone number, the person could chunk the digits into three

groups: first, the area code (such as 215), then a three-digit chunk (123) and lastly a four-

digit chunk (4567). This method of remembering phone numbers is far more effectivethan attempting to remember a string of 10 digits.

Practice and the usage of existing information in long-term memory can lead toadditional improvements in one's ability to use chunking. In one testing session, an

American cross-country runner was able to recall a string of 79 digits after hearing themonly once by chunking them into different running times (e.g. the first four numbers were

1518, a three-mile time.)[21]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunking_(psychology)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-term_memory#cite_note-20http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunking_(psychology)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-term_memory#cite_note-20