Chunking (psychology) - Memory Training Systems

Memory Training Systems

The phenomenon of chunking as a memory mechanism can be observed in the way we group numbers and information in our day-to-day life. For example, when recalling a number such as 14101946, if we group the numbers as 14, 10 and 1946, we are creating a mnemonic for this number as a day, month and year. An illustration of the limited capacity of working memory as suggested by George Miller can be seen from the following example: While recalling a mobile phone number such as 9849523450, we might break this into 98 495 234 50. Thus, instead of remembering 10 separate digits that is beyond the "seven plus-or-minus two", we are remembering four groups of numbers. Various kinds of memory training systems and mnemonics include training and drill in specially-designed recoding or chunking schemes. Such systems existed before Miller's paper, but there was no convenient term to describe the general strategy, nor was there substantive and reliable research. The term "chunking" is now often used in reference to these systems. When people are aging, the possibility developing Alzheimer’s disease will increase. Patient with this disease will typically experience working memory deficits. Chunking is an effective method to improve patient’s verbal working memory performance.