For example, it is easier to remember nine numbers in three groups of three. With chunking, it is possible to remember far more. Realistically, the average person under normal conditions can expect to remember four items short-term. This is also a word used to describe the organization of things into meaningful sections. ChunkingĪ method of improving our ability to remember things over a short period of time is called chunking. For example, it is easier to remember shorter words or ones which are familiar to the person being tested. When it comes to the general population, this figure varies dramatically as it does depending on the material used to test. Yet modern research has shown that this is only truly accurate when college students are tested. George Miller was one of the psychologists who believed in the aforementioned seven (plus or minus two) theory in relation to short-term memory. The longest list a person can remember in the correct order in over half the trials is known as his or her memory span. A memory span test consists of the individual conducting the experiment reading out lists of words or digits which increase in length. Another term for the capacity of short-term memory is 'memory span'. Though the exact reasons for forgetting information over a short period of time are disputed, the general consensus is that the amount of new facts we can retain over short periods of time are severely restricted by this process of forgetting. This has been taken as proof that short-term memory is separate from long term. Studies showed that anterograde amnesia sufferers were able to retain information for a few seconds but could not form long term memories. This form of amnesia describes patients who are unable to learn new things after being involved in the accident/occurrence that caused their amnesia. This 'modal model' theory was virtually quashed as evidence of a separate short-term memory store came from research conducted on patients with anterograde amnesia. Yet another theory was espoused in the 1960s which claimed that short-term memories were actually converted into a long term store after a short period of time. As far back as the 19th century, it was believed that long and short-term memory belonged in two distinct groups.
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