HOW MANY WORDS CAN YOU REMEMBER?

© 2013 Information Mapping Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Leave the next slide on the screen for 20 seconds.• Try to remember as

many words as you can. • Don’t write them down

until after the slide is gone. (That would be cheating.)

field hockey brake gasket tomato

baseball alternator rugby apple

peach pedal lacrosse corn clutch

eggplant engine soccer carrot

basketball starter strawberry tennis

© 2013 Information Mapping Inc. All Rights Reserved.

NOW WRITE DOWN AS MANY WORDS AS YOU CAN REMEMBER

© 2013 Information Mapping Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How many words did you remember?

Cognitive psychologist George Miller proved this in his famous research paper, “The Magical Number 7 plus or minus 2”.

THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE REMEMBER7 WORDS, PLUS OR MINUS 2

THIS IS THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF THE INFORMATION MAPPING® METHOD: THE CHUNKING PRINCIPLE

It tells us to group information into small, manageable units.

• Use 7 plus or minus 2 items per chunk.

• For complex information, limit chunks to 5 plus or minus 2 items.

• The Chunking principle is especially important when you write for the web.

http://www.informationmapping.com/demo/

Here’s a link to the time test that shows you how the Information Mapping® Method makes it much quicker and easier to find the information you need.

NOW THAT YOU’VE SEEN HOW THE CHUNKING PRINCIPLE WORKS, TAKE THE INFORMATION MAPPING TIME TEST